The Zhejiang Province Belt and Road Studies Think Tank Alliance was reportedly officially launched on Sept 1 at Zhejiang Normal University – located in the city of Jinhua, in East China's Zhejiang province – is expected to raise its profile within the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI.
Led by the university's Institute of African Studies, the alliance includes 15 national and regional research institutions based in Zhejiang province as its first members.
The BRI is widely said to be providing a grand vision and an important platform for building a global community with a shared future.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, plans are for Zhejiang to further integrate into the Belt and Road economic corridor. The think tank alliance reportedly aims to help the province to pick up the pace in building itself up as an important hub for the BRI.
The alliance is seen to be of great significance in serving the national diplomatic strategy and the construction of a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future, to help Zhejiang open up and cooperate with the outside world and to build a new dual-circulation development pattern, said Zhong Yijun, vice president of Zhejiang Normal University.
Dual circulation is the country's development strategy – introduced last year – that sees local production, distribution and consumption as the mainstay of the national economy, with domestic and global trade reinforcing each other.
September 1 also marked the 14th birthday of the university's Institute of African Studies. Since its establishment in 2007, the institute has focused on research into the fields of African development and China-Africa cooperation.
