On January 15–19, 2024 the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) delegation visited China upon the invitation of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The delegation held meetings with the Council representatives, expert, academic and business communities of China during the trip. Among the participants were Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Director General; Viktor Koksharov, Rector of the Ural Federal University, RIAC Member; Victoria Panova, Vice-Rector of the Higher School of Economics, Sherpa of the Russian Federation in the Women's Twenty (W20), RIAC Member; Igor Makarov, Head of the Department of World Economy and of the Laboratory for the Economics of Climate Change at the Higher School of Economics; Julia Melnikova, RIAC Program Manager; and Alexandra Perminova, Research Fellow at the Center for Central Asian Studies at the RAS Institute of China and Modern Asia.
On January 15–19, 2024 the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) delegation visited China upon the invitation of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The delegation held meetings with the Council representatives, expert, academic and business communities of China during the trip. Among the participants were Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Director General; Viktor Koksharov, Rector of the Ural Federal University, RIAC Member; Victoria Panova, Vice-Rector of the Higher School of Economics, Sherpa of the Russian Federation in the Women's Twenty (W20), RIAC Member; Igor Makarov, Head of the Department of World Economy and of the Laboratory for the Economics of Climate Change at the Higher School of Economics; Julia Melnikova, RIAC Program Manager; and Alexandra Perminova, Research Fellow at the Center for Central Asian Studies at the RAS Institute of China and Modern Asia.
The work program of the trip began in Beijing. The central event was the meeting of the delegation with Mu Hong, Vice-Chairman of the CPPCC Supreme Committee, other representatives of the CPPCC Supreme Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Later on, delegation members had a detailed conversation with their Chinese colleagues during a meeting with the CPPCC Foreign Affairs Committee representatives, headed by He Ping, the Committee Director. The Russian guests also visited the history museum of the CPPCC and got acquainted with the distinguishing features of the formation of this body and its functioning.
In the Chinese capital, the delegation also visited the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), affiliated with the Chinese MFA and participated in a roundtable, dedicated to the current issues on the Russian-Chinese cooperation agenda, including economic cooperation, common projects in Eurasia, e.g. the linking of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as multilateral interaction under the auspices of BRICS and SCO. From the Chinese side, the event was attended by Chen Bo, CIIS President; Liu Feitao, Director of the Department of European and Central Asian Studies; Zhu Zhongbo, Director of the Department of International and Strategic Studies; Han Liu, Deputy Director of the Department of European and Central Asian Studies; Zhang Tengjun, Deputy Director of the Department of American Studies; Khan Ze and Li Tianyi, Research Fellows of the Department of European and Central Asian Studies, as well as representatives of the CPPCC. The parties agreed to establish systemic cooperation in 2024.
From Beijing the delegation traveled to Shenzhen, one of the most actively developing cities of the PRC, established during the period of Reforms and Opening-Up under Deng Xiaoping. After visiting the museum dedicated to these events, representatives of the Russian side had a meeting with Lin Jie, Chairman of the CPPCC of Shenzhen, and her colleagues.
The visit of the RIAC delegation to the MSU–BIT University in Shenzhen, created by Lomonosov Moscow State University, Beijing Polytechnic Institute (University) and the Municipal People's Government of Shenzhen, deserves special attention. The participants of the trip were warmly welcomed by Li Haejong, Rector and Member of the Board of Directors, and Sergey Ivanchenko, First Vice-rector, as well as the university's management and staff. They discussed the prospects of creating new partnerships between other Russian and Chinese universities based on the MSU–BIT model, and the possibilities of interaction within the framework of related programs of the Russian International Affairs Council.
At the end of the trip, the delegation met with representatives of HYTERA, a company engaged in the production of telecommunications equipment.
