Professor Zhang Yuyan is Senior Fellow and Director-General of the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, an expert on the Advisory Committee for Economic & Trade Policy of the Ministry of Commerce of China and President of the China Society of World Economy. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Economics from the Department of Economics at Peking University in 1983, and Master and Ph.D. Degrees in Economics at the Graduate School of CASS in 1986 and 1991 respectively. His main academic interests include institutional economics and international political economy. He authored “Economic Development and the Choice of Institutions and International Economic Politics.”
The debates around the The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have gradually heated up in the last couple of years; recent worldwide news has fueled interest to the initiative. Recently it was announced that the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held in Beijing from May 14 to 15. The Forum, with a theme of “Strengthening International Cooperation and Co-Building ‘the Belt and Road’ for Win-Win Development” will be attended by more than 1,200 officials, entrepreneurs, and representatives of international organizations and financial institutions from more than 100 nations, as well as government representatives from more than 28 countries. During the Forum, the Chinese side hopes to sign cooperation documents with 20 countries and more than 20 international organizations. They also plan to come up with nearly 20 action plans concerning infrastructure, trade, and investment.
