Forum on Railway Cooperation Between China and Russia Held in Beijing

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter to the second Forum on Railway Cooperation between China and Russia， hosted by the CPAFFC and undertaken by Beijing Jiaotong University on September 4th，2015.

[CCTV News Broadcast] Pre-mier Li Keqiang said that， with in-depth development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination， transportation coopera-tion highlighted the commitment of China and Russia to practical projects.The cooperation in infrastructure con-struction and connection establislunent between the two countries was a majorpart of the effort to facilitate interac-tion between the“Silk Road EconomicBelt”initiative and the Eurasian Eco-nomic Union. The forum focused on high-speed railway construction meet-ing the strategic demand of the two countries， which was of great signifi-cance.

Premier Li encouraged the stu-dents in Jiaotong universities of the two countries to leam from each other，work together and expand cooperation in the training of talented people， scien-tific research and service to society so as to make greater contributions to the friendship between the two peoples.

On September 4， the second Fo-rum on Railway Cooperation between China and Russia， with the theme of“Promoting Innovation for Develop-ment and Communication”， was held in Beijing. The forum was highly valued by the govermnents and relevant orga-nizations of both sides. Chinese Pre-mier Li Keqiang， Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev sent letters of congratula-tion.

Arken Imirbaki， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress， said in his opening remarks that“China and Rus-sia share traditional friendship. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended Chi-na’s V-Day parade in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of China’s War of Resistance against the Japanese Aggression and the vic-tory of the Second World War over fas-cism. In the war， Chinese and Russians fought the same enemy and made great sacrifices.

“Since the founding of the Peo-pIe’s Republic of China， the people of the former Soviet Union have made great contributions to China’s social-ist construction. Many universities in China， including several Jiaotong uni-versities， have received guidance from the experts of the former Soviet Union in the early years of the new China.”

Guided by the“One Belt， One Road”strategic vision， the forum cre-ated a mechanism for exchanges ineducation related to transportation technolo-gies and management between China and Rus-sia. Under the principle of“education first”， it is exploring cooperative training of competent personnel in high-speed railway construc-tion. This will contribute to the connection of the Silk Road Economic Belt and Russia’s Trans-Eurasia Railway， the enhancement of economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia and the development and opening of the adjacent areas.

Vice Minister of Education Liu Limin，Vice Minister of Transport Feng Zhenglin and engineers of China Railway spoke highly of the forum in their speeches and expressed thanks to the CPAFFC for what it had done to ensure its success.

Senior rail transportation experts， includ-ing He Huawu， chief engineer of China Rail-way and an academician of the China Acad-emy of Engineering， and Fu Zhihuan， an aca-demician of the Russian Academy of Sciences，talked about the development of China’s high-speed railway. Experts from Russian Railways briefed the meeting about the development of their rail network and expressed their ideas on future cooperation with China.

A Beijing Declaration was issued at the conclusion， aimed at implementing China’s“One Belt， One Road”initiative and“going global”strategy and promoting the exchanges and cooperation in the field of transportation between China and Russia. It was decided that the third forum will be hosted in Moscow in 2016.

Over 200 delegates attended the meet-ing， including CPAFFC Secretary General Li Xikui， China Railway Chief Engineer He Huawu， Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Agency for Railway Transport Lukovnikov Evgeniy Valentinovich， Minister-Counsellor of Russian Embassy in China Tomikhin Evg-eny and principals from nearly 60 universities of China and Russia.