On August 24^th, RUC Vice President Professor YI Zhihong met with a delegation from Nazarbayev University led by Provost Anne Lonsdale. RUC and Nazarbayev University resolved to strengthen their academic cooperation and increase student exchanges between the two schools. Director of Renmin’s International Office ZHANG Xiaojing and Head of the Science Department Mou Feng, along with other RUC staff and faculty, also welcomed Provost Lonsdale. Vice President YI Zhihong opened talks by introducing RUC’s most eminent disciplines, detailing the situation of foreign students in Kazakhstan, and presenting an overview of research here that relates specifically to Central Asia and the “Belt and Road Initiative.” She emphasized the friendly relations existing between China and neighboring Kazakhstan, as well as between Renmin and Nazarbayev University. Provost Lonsdale introduced the general situation of her school, explaining that Nazarbayev University attaches great importance to its academic partnership with Renmin University, which she hopes will be developed further in the future, in fields such as Eurasian Studies, international relations, economics, philosophy, and history. Nazarbayev University, located in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, was founded by Kazakhstani President Nazarbayev and is the country’s highest institution of higher learning. The school opened in September 2010. Its mission is to develop a new generation of innovative leaders, build a world-class research institution, and invite internationally renowned professors to share their expertise. On September 7^th, 2013, Chinese President XI Jinping held a speech at Nazarbayev University entitled "Work Together to Build the Silk Road Economic Belt." It is in this speech that Xi Jinping laid out the strategy for of the joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Zone.