Nyurgun Maksimov, Director of the Institute of the East at North-Eastern Federal University, as part of an official delegation of youth representatives from Eurasian countries, took part in a series of events dedicated to youth exchanges under the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Meetings were held in Kunming and Beijing.

As part of the events, there was an official visit to Kunming University, where Nyurgun Maksimov met with the university vice-rector Dong Jianhua. “Kunming University is ready to accept not only students of NEFU, but also graduates of high schools in Yakutia as part of exchange programs. Since 2020, grant programs and the opportunity to take part in the work of the China-SCO Youth Exchange Center on the basis of Kunming University will be available to young people from Yakutia,” said Nyurgun Maksimov.

The main event was the Young Scientists Forum of China and Eurasia, held on December 5 in Beijing. Nyurgun Maksimov introduced the Far East and made a presentation on the role of education in the development of youth exchanges between Russia and China. “By 2020, the heads of our states set the goal of increasing the number of academic exchanges between Russia and China to 100 thousand people. This is a very responsible task for us,” said the director of the Institute of the East.

According to the director, the basis for Russian-Chinese cooperation is training of specialists. “The establishment of Russian-Chinese universities, university associations, the promotion of the Chinese language in Russia and the Russian language in China are the main tools to increase the number of students participating in educational exchange programs. If the groundwork is not laid, then other areas for the development of cooperation are out of the question. In my report, I talked about Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of education, about existing trends and problems,” concluded Nyurgun Maksimov.

The forum was organized by the Chinese Committee of the Shanghai Organization for Neighborhood, Friendship and Cooperation. In total, the forum was attended by participants from 12 countries of Eurasia, including China.