On the 15^th of December, RUC President LIU Wei met with the Turkmenistani Minister for Education Purli Agamuradov, so as to conduct an investigation into opportunities for high-level academic exchanges and collaboration. The meeting began with President LIU giving a warm welcome to Minister Agamuradov. He then continued, stating that RUC is a comprehensive research university that specialises in the humanities and the social sciences, especially in the nine fields of applied economics, theoretical economics, politics, law, journalism, sociology, industrial and commercial administration, public administration, and statistics where it is ranked first in China. RUC and Turkmenistan have a long history of friendship. As early as 2006, the former Turkmenistani President Saparmurat Niyazov visited RUC and received an honorary professorship. Up to the present, there have been many students from Turkmenistan that have studied at RUC. From today onwards, RUC wants to expand its high-level academic exchanges with Turkmenistan, especially with regards exchange students, visiting scholars, and research on the “belt and road,” and welcomes more of Turkmenistan’s top students to come to study at RUC. Minister Agamuradov extended his thanks to RUC for their warm hospitality, and followed by briefing President LIU on the current situation of education in Turkmenistan. He stated that Turkmenistan especially emphasises the importance of youth education, working hard to open up more possibilities for international exchanges for its students. Today, there are many universities in Turkmenistan that offer Chinese language and culture courses, and he expressed hope that Turkmenistan’s high-level academic institutions could develop long-lasting cooperative partnerships with RUC, so as to provide more opportunities for students from both countries. Deputy Director of the International Office LI Zhenshi, deputy Dean of the School of Economics ZHENG Xinye, deputy Dean of the School of International Studies JIN Canrong, associate professor of the School of International Studies CUI Shoujun, and professor from the School of Foreign Languages LI Sha attended the meeting.