SIIS successfully holds the symposium on “Russia – China Cooperation in the Middle East: New Dynamics and New Opportunities”

2023/03/24

On 23 March 2023, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) and Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) jointly held the symposium on “Russia – China Cooperation in the Middle East: New Dynamics and New Opportunities”. SIIS President Chen Dongxiao and RIAC Academic Director Andrey Kortunov delivered opening remarks. Dr. Jin Liangxiang, Senior Fellow of the Center for West Asian and African Studies at SIIS chaired the opening ceremony and the first session “The New Regional Dynamics in the Middle East”. Dr. Wang Zhen, Senior Research Fellow of the Center for West Asian and North African Studies at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Dr. Vasily Kuznetsov, Deputy Director for Science of the Institute of Oriental Studies at Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Dr. Li Zixin, Research Fellow of the Department for Developing Countries Studies at China Institute of International Studies and Dr. Grigoriy Lukyanov, Researcher of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies at RAS, all shared their own thoughts and insights on recent developments in Middle East and their regional and global implications as well as China’s and Russia’s policy towards the Middle East. 

The second session “Opportunities and Necessities of China-Russia Cooperation in the Region”was moderated by Dr. Ivan Bocharov, Program Coordinator at RIAC. Dr. Boris Dolgov, Leading Researcher of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies at RAS shared his views on Russia-China cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East. Dr. Zou Zhiqiang, Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Middle East Studies at Fudan University, exchanged his insights with other participants on the new global context and China-Russia cooperation in the Middle East: areas and mechanisms. Dr. Alexey Khlebnikov, RIAC expert, and Dr. Zhao Long, Deputy Director of the Institute for Global Governance Studies at SIIS, both delivered their presentations respectively on evolution of operational environment in the Middle East and the significance of China-Russia cooperation in the Middle East within the context of Ukraine Crisis.

In the end, SIIS President Chen Dongxiao, RIAC Academic Director Andrey Kortunov and Amb. Aleksandr Aksenenok, RIAC Vice-President, gave their comments on the previous presentations and delivered closing remarks as well.