On September 21, the 8th Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo grandly opened at the Dunhuang International Convention and Exhibition Center. Nie Lei, Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee and Executive Vice President, attended the event and delivered a speech at the "Belt and Road" University Alliance Tenth Anniversary Conference and Cooperation Forum.

The Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo emerged under the impetus of the "Belt and Road" Initiative. Approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, it is a comprehensive international cultural expo hosted by the Gansu Provincial People's Government. Since its inaugural session in 2016, guided by the important directives of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the expo has been successfully held seven times, playing a key role in cultural integration, intellectual exchange, and emotional connectivity among countries and regions along the "Belt and Road."

This year's Dunhuang Cultural Expo, themed "Strengthening Cultural Exchanges and Promoting Mutual Learning Among Civilizations," saw the participation of representatives from 97 countries and 8 international organizations, making it the largest gathering in the expo's history. The convergence of diverse languages and cultures here has injected new momentum into promoting Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations. The expo featured 17 activities across 7 categories, 12 thematic forums across 6 types, and 4 main exhibition areas: the Dunhuang Academy's "Model" and "Highland" construction achievements, cultural exchange and cooperation among "Belt and Road" countries, Gansu's cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage creative products, and an exhibition of fine international calligraphy and painting works from the "Belt and Road" Initiative.

On September 22, the 10th Anniversary Conference and Cooperation Forum of the "Belt and Road" University Alliance was held at the Dunhuang Convention and Exhibition Center, with more than 300 Chinese and foreign participants from the alliance in attendance. As the only representative of universities in Gansu Province, Nie Lei delivered a speech titled "Taking Rail Transit as a Bridge and University Alliance as a Beam to Empower the High-Quality Development of the 'Belt and Road'". Nie Lei pointed out that with the comprehensive advancement and in-depth implementation of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, China's high-speed railways have taken active actions in line with the progress of the "Belt and Road" construction. They have become an important carrier for promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road", realizing connectivity and opening-up cooperation. They have brought tangible sense of gain and happiness to local people and created new development opportunities for countries along the routes. The university has always been committed to serving the high-quality development of the industry and local areas. It has participated in scientific research and technological services for more than 100 major domestic and foreign railway projects, including the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Sichuan-Tibet Railway, China-Laos Railway, Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, Hungary-Serbia Railway, Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway and Mombasa-Nairobi Railway. Lanzhou Jiaotong University has achieved a series of landmark scientific research results in railway construction and operation and maintenance in plateau, alpine and high-intensity earthquake areas, and has an irreplaceable position in the national western higher education strategic layout and the construction of rail transit in northwest China. The university is committed to enhancing its internationalization efforts, steadily advancing the joint establishment of a Confucius Institute with the University of Seville in Spain, and successfully obtaining approval for a collaborative undergraduate program in logistics management with Széchenyi István University in Hungary, marking a "breakthrough in Sino-foreign cooperative education." The university actively contributes to the "going global" of China's high-speed rail: ventilation technology for African railway tunnels has resolved ventilation challenges in Guinean railway tunnels; train operation safety assurance systems are widely used in "Belt and Road" countries; intelligent panoramic simulation training systems for railway operations have been deployed in over 1,500 railway stations in China and exported to Laos; and precise alignment with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project focuses on environmental characteristics, construction challenges, and operational safety to promote research collaboration. As a member of the alliance, Nie Lei stated that high-quality cooperation in building the "Belt and Road" relies on the support of "hard connectivity," "soft connectivity," and "people-to-people connectivity." She expressed the expectation to collaborate with alliance member universities in the following ways: First, focus on areas of urgent need in countries along the Belt and Road, such as transportation, logistics, and energy, and deepen the mechanism of "disciplinary collaboration, talent co-cultivation, and platform sharing" to strengthen educational bridges. Second, advance Chinese standards, technologies, and solutions to better reach the global stage in key areas such as cross-border railway connectivity, smart logistics, and green transportation, working together to overcome technical challenges. Third, deepen mutual visits and learning exchanges among students and scholars, strengthen cooperation in cultural exchange programs, and foster a solid public foundation for Belt and Road cooperation, thereby promoting people-to-people exchanges. Fourth, work with alliance universities to comprehensively expand the network of external exchanges and cooperation, contributing more wisdom and strength to advancing global transportation technology and building the Belt and Road into a pathway of peace, prosperity, openness, innovation, and civilization.

This grand event is expected to further promote the deep integration between universities and cultural exchanges in the Belt and Road initiative. Leveraging the platform of the cultural expo, it aims to explore new ideas and directions for universities in cultural research and exchange cooperation, cultivate more outstanding talents in related fields, and help continuously enhance the international influence of Chinese culture.

Director from the School of International Education and the Center of International Exchanges (Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs) attended the above meeting.