ASTANA – Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) recently opened a China Studies Centre in the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan.
“This morning [Oct. 24] a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Library of The First President of Kazakhstan. Under this document, a centre for China studies was opened in the library. The centre has several tasks, such as joint promotion of the One Belt One Road initiative, joint research with the involvement of experts from the Chinese and Kazakh sides,” said Deputy to the National People’s Congress of China, Vice President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) Zhang Zhao’an during the seminar, Contemporary China: Questions and Answers.
In addition, the new centre will be responsible for visits by researchers and a series of lectures on the study of China.
According to centre’s website, the China Studies Centre is a modern think tank engaged in a comprehensive study of Chinese culture and history, which also analyses the prospective development of Chinese economy and serves as an interactive platform for cooperation between governments, business circles, expert and academic communities and universities of Kazakhstan and China.
“Today, this is the first event within the established centre. The ultimate goal covers a very wide audience from the state and trade and economic sectors, including small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the academic environment,” added Zhao’an.
He also noted that it will become a platform to help the two countries “understand each other better.”
During the lecture at the seminar, the expert shared his assessments of the current state and forecasts of the development of Chinese economy.
The first seminar and upcoming ones will give the Kazakh audience the opportunity to get acquainted with foreign assessments of Chinese economic development. Particularly, they will focus on what Chinese economists think about China’s economy, as well as the problematic aspects in its development. They will also discuss the future of Chinese economy and what the Central Asian countries can expect from such an uneasy but promising neighbourhood, according to the announcement.
