Lianyungang — September 15, 2023, became the official birth date of a new international research structure.
The solemn launching ceremony of the Research Institute of the New Land-Sea Transport Corridor (NLSTC RI) took place on the sidelines of the "China – Europe" Railway Express Cooperation Forum.
The opening ceremony was attended by a delegation from the "Beles" Center for Analysis and Strategy and Astana International University (AIU), whose experts acted as co-founders of the new institute.
The launch of the NLSTC RI was included in the official agenda of the Forum, which was held with the participation of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Roman Sklyar and the Vice Premier of the State Council of the PRC Ding Xuexiang.
Such a level of support highlights the strategic role of the new institute: it is intended to become the main "brain center" for scientific support of transit flows between Asia and Europe.
The joint opening of the institute by the Kazakhstani delegation (AIU, "Beles" Center) and Chinese partners (Institute for the "Belt and Road" Strategy of Tsinghua University, Lianyungang City Government) consolidated the following work priorities:
- Corridor Audit: Identification of "bottlenecks" on TITR routes and their elimination.
- Digital Integration: Development of unified standards for seamless cargo passage.
- Expert Diplomacy: Creation of a permanent platform for dialogue between logistics business and state bodies of the two countries.
"It is symbolic that the NLSTC RI opened right here in Lianyungang — the maritime gateway for Kazakhstan. This is a transition from words to action: we have created an institutional base that combines the academic power of Tsinghua University and the applied expertise of the 'Beles' Center to solve real economic tasks."
