Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Research Institute of the New Land-Sea Transport Corridor Asia-Europe

The delegation of Astana International University led by President S.A. Irsaliyev visited the city of Lianyungang in China.

The first meeting of board of directors of the Research Institute of the New Land-Sea Transport Corridor Asia-Europe was held at the Oceanological University of Jiangsu Province, China. The meeting was attended by the head of the city development and reform committee Wei Huai Yu, the president of Astana International University Irsaliyev Serik Aztaevich, the vice-rector of Jiangsu Ocean University Shen Xin, the executive director of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Belt and Road Initiative of Tsinghua University Shi Zhiqin.

Wei Huaiyu was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the New Asia-Europe Research Institute, Serik Irsaliyev was appointed chairman of the Kazakh branch, and Fan Ziqiang and Kairat Abdrakhmanov were appointed deputy chairmen from the Chinese and Kazakh sides, respectively.

In his speech, Wei Huaiyu briefly spoke about the economic and social development of Lianyungang City, as well as the experience of exchanges and cooperation between Lianyungang City and Kazakhstan. He expressed hope that communication bridges through scientific and cultural activities, by promoting exchanges and cooperation between the political, business and academic societies of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries and Lianyungang will contribute to the development of the region. Lianyungang will become an international exchange center for countries and regions along the New Asia-Europe Land-Sea Transport Corridor; organizing talent exchange events, training for foreign students from Central Asian countries and other events.

Serik Irsaliyev spoke about the progress of friendly exchanges between China and Kazakhstan in recent years, as well as about joint efforts of establishment of the Asia-Europe Intermodal Transport Corridor Research Institute. He said that we are witnessing the formation of a new global economic and geographical model. The unique advantages of Kazakhstan’s location, as well as China’s formation of a logistics network in countries and regions along the Belt and Road will help strengthen the high quality of container trains on the China-Europe route, the development and participation in the construction of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, which has provided favorable conditions for construction and development of research institutes. We hope to develop the institute into a platform for collaborative research and learning, exchange of experiences and practices, and creation of development opportunities, and work together to actively promote sustainable economic and human capital development.

Experts and scholars in related fields from Tsinghua University, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyung Economic Development Zone, China-Russia Digital Economy Research Center and SCO International Logistics Park (Lianyungang) were invited to the meeting.

The AIU delegation also visited the port and the Kazakh-Chinese logistics cooperation base in Lianyungang, where employees of JSC KTZ Express organized an excursion and introduced in detail the activities of the joint terminal.

The visit resulted in agreements to deepen bilateral cooperation with the Chinese side in the scientific and educational sphere.