On September 17th, hosted by the Secretariat of Silk Road Think Tank Association (SRTA), and organized by China Center for Contemporary World Studies (CCCWS), International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), “The 5th Anniversary of Belt and Road Initiative: Assessment and Prospect”International Think Tank Symposium was held at Renmin University of China (RUC). Several international experts from fifteen countries in Asia, Africa and America discussed the future development of Belt and Road (B&R) with Chinese officials and scholars. The Symposium also released three research reports.

Zheng Shuiquan, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of RUC, and Wang Liyong, deputy director of the CCCWS of IDCPC, delivered their opening speeches. Wang Wen, Executive Dean of the RDCY, presided over the opening ceremony.

Zheng Shuiquan

Zheng Shuiquan pointed out in his speech that in the past five years, the B&R construction has made great achievements in overall layout, policy planning, infrastructure, trade development, financial cooperation, and people to people exchanges, and a solid foundation has been built. He emphasized that in the future construction, we should focus on the stable development and control all kinds of risk.

Wang Liyong

Wang Liyong said that the B&R has received wide support and praise from the international community over the past five year and has transformed from a cooperative concept to concrete practice. He emphasized that the convening of the conference on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the B&R is to expect that the international community can have a deeper understanding of this cooperation concept and its construction achievements. Through gathering opinions and suggestions put forward by the think tank scholars of various countries, the symposium attempts to promote the development of the B&R construction.

Zhang Yanling

Zhang Yanling, Former Vice President of Bank of China and senior fellow of the RDCY, Bruno Maçães, Former Minister for Europe Affairs in the Portuguese government, Non-resident Senior Fellow of RDCY, and Sergey SANAKOEV, President of Rogachev Center of Russian-China Studies, delivered keynote speeches.

Zhang Yanling talked about the B&R projects she has investigated personally, and analyzed the impact of the “Belt and Road Initiative” on the world economic structure and the risks of the countries where these projects are located.

Bruno Maçãe

Bruno Maçãe affirmed the achievements and progress of the B&R. He said that many countries have begun to formulate their own plans to connect to the B&R and strive to seize the opportunities provided by B&R. He also stressed that Western countries' willingness and ability in global governance have fallen sharply, and technological upgrading and reform are lags behind , which provides space for the development of the B&R. Meanwhile, he warned that the development of B&R should avoid the security risks, financial risks and geopolitical risks.

Sergey SANAKOEV

Sergey SANAKOEV stated that China and Russia should cooperate in infrastructure construction under the framework of the “Belt and Road initiative”. He also stressed that the humanities exchanges and cooperation between the two countries also need to be further promoted. The 2020 Beijing Winter Olympics should also become an important opportunity for the joint promotion and development of the two countries.

At the symposium, a series of research reports was released. Jia Jinjing, director of the Macro Research Department of the RDCY, on behalf of the research group, released the research reports of "The 5th Anniversary of the "Belt and Road": Review and Prospect from the Perspective of Policy”, “Construction of BRI Studies”, and “Heading for Europe, Going North: Research on Sino-Russian Joint Construction of the Pivot Ports along the ‘Silk Road on Ice’”. Respectively from the perspective of the academic source tracing, review and prospect and future expansion of the B&R, the three research reports pointed out that the B&R, as the optimization and improvement of global governance, provide new type of Chinese plan and Chinese wisdom for the world.

The report of "The 5th Anniversary of the "Belt and Road": Review and Prospect from the Perspective of Policy” noted that in the past five years, bilateral and multilateral cooperation broke new ground across the world and was underpinned by public diplomacy, and the construction of the B&R has made tremendous achievements. On the basis of the achievements, we must still be well-armed to promote the deepening of cooperation, and the construction of the “Belt and Road” still needs time to be carried forward.

Focusing on the themes of “ 5th Anniversary of Belt and Road Initiative: Assessment and Prospect” and “ Belt and Road Initiative People-to-People Exchange and Think Tank Cooperation”, experts and think tanks scholars from Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Panama, Nigeria, Namibia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Argentina, Chile, Philippines, Zambia, Thailand, as well as Zhang Yueguo, president of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, Di Dongsheng, Associate Dean of the School of International Studies of Renmin University of China, Teng Jimeng, Associate Professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Zhou Rong and Chen Yongjun, senior fellow of RDCY, Han Hua, Jia Jinjing, Cao Mingdi, research fellow of RDCY, conducted the panel discussion.