Co-hosted by Guangming Daily Press, the Publicity Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee and the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, the “High-level International Forum on Linking the ‘Belt and Road’ Construction: Pushing forward Longjiang’s Comprehensive Revitalization and Development” was held in Harbin on June 15.

The forum gathered more than 100 experts and scholars from around the world for in-depth discussions about such topics as Heilongjiang’s new opportunities and models for the “Belt and Road” construction as well as the geopolitical challenges and cooperative potential of the latest round of Northeast Asian regional cooperation.

“The ‘Belt and Road’ initiative proposed by China can not only stimulate economic growth in regions like Central Asia and Southeast Asia but also resolve the imbalance of regional development,” said Jin Meihua, secretary-general of the Center for Northeast Asian Studies at Jilin Academy of Social Sciences, adding that the “Belt and Road” construction will provide new chances for eliminating Northeast Asian regional cooperative barriers and establishing regional cooperative mechanisms.

Zhang Fenglin, deputy director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that the “Heilongjiang Passage” will become an important platform for enhancing regional cooperation between China and Northeast Asia, while the “Heilongjiang Land and Maritime Silk Road Economic Belt” construction will help release the potential of economic and trade cooperation between Heilongjiang and Japan, South Korea and Mongolia.