Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 3 — A speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the second China-Central Asia Summit has been published in booklet form.
Xi delivered the keynote speech themed “Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit For High-Quality Cooperation in the Region” in Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 17.
The booklet, published by the People’s Publishing House, is available at Xinhua Bookstore outlets across the country.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 3 — A speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the second China-Central Asia Summit has been published in booklet form.
Xi delivered the keynote speech themed “Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit For High-Quality Cooperation in the Region” in Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 17.
The booklet, published by the People’s Publishing House, is available at Xinhua Bookstore outlets across the country.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) — The Silk Road served as a channel for trade and economic interaction between the East and West, and currently China-Europe freight trains provide uninterrupted freight traffic on the Eurasian continent.
On June 10 this year, China-Europe freight train 75052 departed from Jiaozhou Station in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, East China.
Thus, the total number of China-Europe freight train departures has exceeded 110,000, and the value of the cargo they transported has exceeded 450 billion US dollars. For 61 consecutive months, the monthly number of trips has consistently exceeded a thousand.
If two thousand years ago camel caravans paved the Silk Road, today the “steel dragon” rushes along the golden transport corridor Asia-Europe, demonstrating the dynamics of openness. China-Europe freight trains are becoming a stable driver of high-quality development.
INCREASING INTENSITY
Between 2016 and 2024, the annual number of China-Europe freight train departures increased from 1,702 to 19,000, and the value of goods carried increased from an average of US$8 billion to US$66.4 billion.
Three established route lines, namely western, central and eastern, already pass through China. China-Europe train services have been launched in 128 cities in China, and the number of regular routes on a fixed schedule, which start from the coastal ports of Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Lianyungang and other harbors, has reached 28.
Outside China, the diversified development of this transport channel is facilitated by the countries located along its routes. In particular, trains reach 229 cities in 26 European countries and more than 100 cities in 11 Asian countries.
In the western direction, new routes were opened in the framework of international rail-sea combined transportation through the Baltic, Caspian and Black Seas. In the eastern direction, uninterrupted connections were ensured with the new international land-sea trade corridor, the golden waterway of the Yangtze River and seaports, which created new transport corridors in the framework of multimodal rail-sea transportation between East Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe.
INCREASING EFFICIENCY
Freight train 75052, which departed on June 10, carried LCD displays, refrigerators and other household appliances. Over the past 10 years, there has been an evolution of product names: from clothing and footwear to the “new three” (electric vehicles, lithium batteries, solar panels), household appliances and high-tech equipment.
The growing diversity and cost of cargo require increased transportation efficiency. In recent years, given the specifics of transportation organization, the maximum number of cars in one China-Europe train running at 120 km/h has been increased to 55, and the maximum gross train weight to 3,000 tons. Close cooperation with customs authorities has made it possible to optimize the accelerated customs clearance scheme for trains, reducing customs clearance time from half a day to less than 30 minutes, with the fastest clearance taking only a few minutes.
China Railway Container Transport (CRCT) has set up subsidiaries in Kazakhstan, Germany and other countries, deepening cooperation with local railway authorities and logistics companies to develop bilateral cargo flows.
DEEPENING INTEGRATION
Thanks to the new logistics corridors opened by China-Europe freight trains for the interior regions of Asia and Europe, the countries along the route are actively integrating into the open world economy. Spanish wine, Dutch cheese, Thai durian, Laotian bananas have become everyday goods for the Chinese. Electronics, electric cars and everyday goods from China reach Europe faster and at more attractive prices.
The rise of industry and the development of China-Europe freight trains go hand in hand. For example, the Ereenhot checkpoint in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is currently accelerating the transformation of a transit economy into an industrial economy. It has formed a cross-border logistics network that attracts industrial clusters in the production of auto parts, woodworking, etc.
“China-Europe freight trains with high efficiency, stability and environmental friendliness are changing the architecture of regional economies,” said Li Tiegan, a professor at Shandong University.
The ‘steel camels’ demonstrate China’s commitment to building an open global economy and promoting common prosperity. -0-
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) — A China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan international multimodal freight train departed from Changsha International Railway Port Station in central China’s Hunan Province on Wednesday. It is the first full-length international train in Changsha operating under the multimodal transportation model (railway-road transport) approved by the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China.
As reported by the Zhongxinshe news agency, the departure of this train opened a new logistics corridor between Hunan Province and the countries of Central Asia, including all of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
This has created a shorter, faster and more cost-effective westward route for businesses in Hunan and the surrounding areas. In addition, the train has facilitated flexible distribution across multiple routes, expanding supplies to markets such as West Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Southern Europe.
According to the person in charge of the platform running the train, through this new channel, products from Hunan Province can be delivered to customers in Central Asian countries in a shorter time, and the cost of transportation and insurance can be reduced by 30 percent. -0-
Source: Government of India
Source: Government of India (4)
Carbon pricing is increasingly recognized worldwide as a powerful tool to combat the devastating impacts of climate change. But what exactly is it, and how does it work? Let’s explore this transformative approach to driving a greener and more sustainable future.
Carbon pricing is a policy mechanism that puts a financial cost on greenhouse gas emissions. This policy tool is primarily aimed at discouraging emitters of the greenhouse gas especially carbon dioxide and encouraging individuals, industries and other stakeholders to reduce such emissions to save the mother earth, as climate change is causing a great deal of damage in almost every part of the world, which appears irreparable in several cases.
Driven largely by the excessive emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, climate change is increasingly posing a critical threat to global ecosystems, economies and societies. In the process, one of the most effective tools developed to mitigate these emissions is carbon pricing. This mechanism mandates to internalize the environmental damage caused by pollution, thus encouraging industries and consumers to reduce their carbon footprint.
To understand it lucidly, carbon pricing is an economic strategy designed to reduce global warming. It reflects the cost of carbon emissions in the market, encouraging emitters to either reduce their emissions or pay for the same. In simple terms, it is a kind of financial penalty imposed on the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the people, industries or other stakeholders.
There are two primary forms of carbon pricing- carbon tax and cap-and-trade. Each of these mechanisms puts a price on carbon, but in different ways. While, carbon tax directly sets a price on carbon by defining a tax rate on greenhouse gas emissions or more commonly on the carbon content of fossil fuels, making it easier for businesses to plan future investments.
Besides, carbon tax is imposed by the government on on fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas based on their carbon content. The higher the emissions associated with a fuel, the higher the tax, making high emission fuels more expensive, thus encouraging a shift towards cleaner energy sources. For example, Sweden has one of the highest carbon taxes in the world, set at around $130 per tonne of CO₂. The country has reduced carbon emissions significantly while maintaining economic growth since its adoption of the mechanism in 1991.
On the other hand, under Cap-and-Trade or Emissions Trading System (ETS), the government sets a total cap on emissions and distributes or auctions emission permits to emitters. Companies can buy and sell these allowances, creating a market for carbon emissions. Without doubt, a cap limits total emissions for a group of industries or the entire economy.
In this system, companies receive or purchase allowances representing the right to emit a specific amount of CO2, and if a company emits less than its allowance, it can sell the surplus to other companies. Similarly, if a company exceeds the allowance level, it must buy more. Here, it is interesting to note that the cap doesn’t remain fixed, but is gradually reduced over time to decrease total emissions.
The European Union emissions trading system is the largest and most established cap-and-trade system, as it covers more than 11,000 power plants and factories across Europe and is a cornerstone of the EU’s climate policy.
However, a number of countries worldwide have adopted carbon pricing mechanisms including those in Europe. Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, USA, New Zealand, Britain, South Africa, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Colombia, Ukrain, Indonesia, Vietnam and a few others have already adopted different mechanisms. The pioneers in the process are Sweden and Finland. While Sweden introduced it in 1991, Finland was the first country to introduce a carbon tax in 1990.
While, the impacts of climate change are widespread, serious experienced across the globe, the trends to contain it through carbon pricing mechanisms are also encouraging. According to estimates, as of now, carbon pricing mechanisms cover about 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The total global value of carbon pricing instruments in operation exceeds $100 billion annually.
At the same time, there is a growing push for international coordination, especially through article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to trade emissions reductions. Thus, the carbon market has grown rapidly in the past decade, fueled by increased climate commitments under the Paris Agreement and the development of regional and national carbon pricing mechanisms.
To know more about how different countries of the world are responding to these initiatives, we can approach to the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Dashboard, which provides a comprehensive overview of carbon pricing initiatives worldwide, including their design, coverage and price levels. The World Bank report on the trends of carbon pricing also shows a significant increase in the number of operational carbon pricing instruments and highlights the growing trend of carbon pricing globally.
In recent years, especially since Narendra Modi government came at the Centre, India has also been rapidly advancing toward a structured and regulated carbon pricing ecosystem. It is a part of India’s broader climate and sustainable development agenda.
Amid the growing global focus on carbon markets and emissions trading, India is taking significant steps toward establishing a rate-based Emissions Trading System (ETS) along with complementary voluntary carbon credit mechanisms. The World Bank’s ‘State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025’ report highlights India’s expanding role as a key emerging economy shaping the future of global climate finance and carbon pricing architecture.
Rate-based ETS refers to a system where total emissions are not capped but individual entities are allocated a performance benchmark that serves as a limit on their net emissions. Rate-based ETSs offer additional flexibility in managing future growth uncertainty as well as international competitiveness concerns.
India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) is a strategic initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon pricing. It comprises two main components- a compliance mechanism for obligated entities, especially for the industrial sector and an offset mechanism to enable voluntary participation.
The scheme being worked out in India, is designed to incentivize and support efforts toward decarbonizing the Indian economy. By establishing the necessary institutional framework, the CCTS has laid the groundwork for the development of the Indian Carbon Market (ICM).
It’s heartening to note here that carbon pricing is no longer a niche policy meant for only rich countries, now it has become a mainstream tool for climate action worldwide including India and other developing countries. Whether through carbon taxes or emissions trading systems, countries are finding ways to internalize the environmental costs of carbon and transition toward a low-carbon future, which augur well for the future of the planet.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
The fifth festival of national hospitality “Friendship of Peoples” will be held at VDNKh from July 3 to 6. Business, entertainment and cultural programs have been prepared for guests.
The program will include concerts, family entertainment, the International Festival of Culture, Fashion and National Hospitality “Uzoryfest” and much more. In addition, for the first time, the festival will feature two national holidays – the republics of Chuvashia and Udmurtia, as well as a special program for Karachay-Cherkessia. Entrance to most events is free, but some require pre-registration. You can view the program on the official website VDNKh.
As reported earlier Natalia Sergunina, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, as part of the festival “Friendship of Nations” Around 100 events of various formats are planned: expert discussions, art exhibitions, sports competitions, culinary master classes and tastings.
The participants of the business program will gather in the congress hall of the Cosmonautics and Aviation Center. They will discuss current issues related to business tourism, fashion, and culture. On July 3 at 1:00 p.m., there will be a panel discussion on the topic of “Going beyond the showcase: how museums are becoming living mediators,” and at 3:00 p.m., there will be a panel discussion on “MICE tourism: a look into the future.” On July 4 at 1:00 p.m., the plenary session “Friendship of Peoples: a variety of formats for interstate events” will begin. To participate in the business program, you must register.
The festival will take place from July 4 to 6 “Patterns Fest”. It will include two blocks: business and cultural and entertainment. They will be held from 11:00 to 20:00.
On July 5, from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM, a concert program will be held on the main stage of the festival, located on the square between Pavilion No. 1 “Central” and the “Friendship of Peoples” fountain. It will feature the Moscow State Dance Ensemble “Russian Seasons”, the folk ensemble “Matrena-art”, the Udmurt State Theater of Folk Song and Dance “Aikai”, the folk group “Buranovskie Babushki”, the State Academic Choreographic Ensemble “Berezka” named after N.S. Nadezhdina, the State Academic Honored Dance Ensemble of Dagestan “Lezginka”, the State Song and Dance Ensemble of the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Academic Koryak National Dance Ensemble “Mengo” named after Alexander Gil (Gubernatorsky). The State Song and Dance Ensemble “Sayany” will present the world premiere of a fragment of the first Tuvan ballet “Subedei”. The main role will be played by People’s Artist of Russia Farukh Ruzimov.
In addition, the People’s Artist of Russia Nadezhda Krygina, the folk song ensemble “Lyubo-milo”, the folk-metal group “Kalevala”, the neofolk group “Balakir”, the ethno-electropunk group Hagrin, as well as the poet and composer Lena Vasilek, the performer from Donetsk Natalia Kachura, the singer Islam Itlyashev, and the first Mari rapper Ship Liy will perform.
On July 4, events prepared by the Karachay-Cherkess Republic will be held. A documentary photo exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Cherkessk will open in the southern rose garden. It will introduce visitors to archival and historical footage of the city. The Cosmonautics and Aviation Center will host a tourism presentation of the region as part of the business program. At 1:00 p.m., the VDNKh Culture House will show the play The Marriage of Balzaminov by the Russian Drama and Comedy Theater of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, and at 4:00 p.m., the feature film The Aul Test will be shown.
On July 5, the traditional holiday of the Udmurt Republic Gerber will be held. It is held after the end of spring field work to express gratitude to nature, perform symbolic rituals, conduct the first haymaking, cook barley porridge cooked in meat broth, and treat yourself to perepechi. The holiday will begin at 07:00 with a sports race on the northern loop of the VDNKh ring road. The route of the distances can be found atwebsiteYou can also register for the race here.
Guests will be able to visit an exhibition-fair of goods from young republican entrepreneurs and artisans, an exhibition called “Udmurtia is proud”, lessons in the Udmurt language and film screenings in it, a presentation of books by national writers, as well as watch a concert program and take part in various master classes.
On July 6, the national holiday of the Chuvash Republic, Akatuy, will take place. Sports competitions in kereshu wrestling will be organized for guests, as well as a special program in the “House of Russian Cuisine”: master classes, a concert, tastings. At 13:45, all those wishing to will walk around the “Friendship of Peoples” fountain in a round dance with the participation of artists in Chuvash costumes.
At 14:30 there will be a grand opening of the festival, an award ceremony for outstanding Chuvash people, a fashion show in national costumes, and a concert featuring the Chuvash State Academic Song and Dance Ensemble, the classical group “Belcanto”, the folklore and pop ensemble “Syaval”, the vocal group “Yardy” and Avgustina Ulyandina, the Chuvash vocal ensemble “Sespel”, groups of the Chuvash State Philharmonic, and artists of the republican pop scene. From 12:00 to 21:00, an exhibition and fair of products from Chuvash manufacturers will be held at the site near pavilion No. 64.
Outdoor events of the festival’s information partner are planned on the territory of the Orion Family Theme Park. The program “World Family Starts” will be held on July 3-4 from 17:00 to 20:00 and on July 5 and 6 from 13:00 to 20:00.
Pavilion No. 4 (Exhibition and Trade Center of the Kyrgyz Republic) will participate in the festival for the first time. On July 3 and 4, guests will be able to attend a tea ceremony in a decorative yurt, take part in master classes on playing the komuz, attend Kyrgyz language lessons, play the folk board game “ordo” (“alchiki”), and take photos in national costumes.
On July 3, the exhibition “80 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War” will open in Pavilion No. 18 (Exhibition and Trade Center of the Republic of Belarus). It is dedicated to the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus.
On July 3, the Bel Canto Foundation’s concert “Beauty of Uzbekistan” will be held in Pavilion No. 66 (Exhibition, Cultural and Exposition Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan). Guests will listen to vocal numbers, as well as violin and guitar pieces. In addition, from July 3 to 6, it will be possible to view the interiors of the pavilion.
On July 5, a master class on cooking the national dish “harisa” with tasting will be held in Pavilion No. 68 (Exhibition and Trade Center of the Republic of Armenia). In addition, musical and dance groups will perform for the guests.
On July 4, the Children’s Embassy will host the circus program “Circus Lights Up the Lights,” and on July 5, it will host a good-neighborliness festival. Guests will visit a performance, workshops, a beauty gallery, get face painting, and see a clown and jugglers perform.
On July 5 at 11:45, the equestrian ceremony of the riders of the Kremlin Equestrian School will begin. The route runs from the Center of National Equestrian Traditions to the Druzhby Narodov Square, where a performance with the participation of the orchestra will be held for the spectators. In pavilion No. 42, the Center of National Equestrian Traditions, a program dedicated to Caucasian horse breeds will be presented. It will include educational stories and creative master classes. On July 6 at 12:00, sports events will be held for guests of VDNKh on the site of pavilion No. 27, Physical Education and Sports.
The Druzhba Narodov film festival will be held at the Cinema Museum at VDNKh. On July 3 at 4:00 PM, guests will be introduced to the festival program and the film Girl with a Guitar will be shown. On July 5 at 4:00 PM, the drama Little Sister will be presented, and on July 6 at 4:00 PM, the film Don’t Bury Me Without Ivan. Detailed information can be found on the website Cinema Museum.
The Atom Museum invites you to the Atom Unites tour from July 4 to 6 at 19:00, which will open the world of international nuclear energy to visitors. You can register atwebsite. On July 3 at 17:00, there will be a master class “Radiation around: from the Urals to Kamchatka” and a quiz “Through the Arctic ice”. And on July 3 and 4 at 16:00, young visitors will be introduced to social geography at the master class “Across Eurasia with Atom”. You can find out more about it atwebsite.
The Glavvino pavilion has prepared a special summer set, “Hospitality,” consisting of five Russian wines and snacks to go with them. The set is available for order from July 3 to 6.
On July 5 at 16:00 in the hall “Krasnostop” (2nd floor of the pavilion “Glavvino”) there will be a tasting “Hospitality” with chef-caviste Vladimir Glukhov. In honor of the festival on the site in front of the pavilion from 15:00 to 22:00 there will be a DJ.
Holding events for VDNKh guests corresponds to the objectives of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality” and is the most important part of the VDNKh strategy until 2030.
Project “Summer in Moscow” — the main event of the season. It unites the most vibrant events of the capital. Every day in all districts of the city there are charity, cultural and sports programs, most of which are free. The Summer in Moscow project is being held for the second time, and this season will be more eventful: new, original and colorful festivals and events will be added to the traditional ones.
Get the latest news quicklyofficial telegram channel the city of Moscow.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect
https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/156166073/
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –
The 26th scientific and practical conference “St. Petersburg Collegial Readings – 2025” on the topic “Intellectual Property: Theory and Practice” was held in St. Petersburg. The organizers were the St. Petersburg College of Patent Attorneys and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. More than 230 intellectual property specialists from Russia, the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan discussed issues of legal protection, defense and use of intellectual property. Representatives of FIPS, EAPO, RGAIS also participated in the conference.
At the grand opening, the President of the St. Petersburg College of Patent Attorneys Andrey Fedotov noted the diversity of the reports presented and wished the participants fruitful work. Director of the Center for Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer of SPbPU Ismail Kadiev emphasized that the readings represent a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge, ideas and experience, and that the research will contribute to the development of the intellectual property sphere in Russia.
This year, the conference organized a separate section dedicated to industrial designs. Russian and Eurasian patent attorney Dmitry Borovsky from Saratov spoke about the characteristics of an industrial design and a work of design, and listed the changes made to the legislation. Russian patent attorney from Novosibirsk Alina Minakova explained how to protect your rights to a trademark.
Asemgul Abenova, Head of the Industrial Designs Department of the EAPO Expertise Department, spoke about the Eurasian system of patenting industrial designs and the features of the Eurasian patent. She presented the stages of consideration of the Eurasian application, the types and amounts of fees, as well as the conditions of patenting.
Russian patent attorney Elena Danilina and Washington State University (Seattle, USA) law professor Anna Bakhmetyeva spoke about the intellectual property rights of ethnic communities and transboundary features of legal regulation. The patent experts explained what object of intellectual property rights is folklore and reviewed the legal regulation of traditional knowledge in Russia and neighboring countries.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the XXVII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Rosneft and the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Trade and Tourism of the Voronezh Oblast signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to promote domestic tourism.
According to the document, the parties plan to implement measures aimed at meeting the demand for domestic automobile tourism, promoting the tourist potential of the region, and improving the comfort of automobile tourists through development of motorway service and Rosneft retail network infrastructure.
Earlier, Rosneft and the Voronezh Tourist Information Center (TIC) presented a joint project to develop automobile tourism including a tourist route through the motorway service facilities available at Rosneft filling stations. The project covers four routes for automobile travel in Voronezh and across the Voronezh Oblast in the following directions: North, South, West, and East. The routes include popular tourist destinations located both in Voronezh and nearby federal highways such as M-4 Don.
Rosneft retail network in the Voronezh Oblast consists of 80 filling stations. Of these, 15 are located on the M4 highway to Voronezh, the main regional transportation artery used by residents of Central Russia to travel to the seaside.
Development of the motorway service facilities and improvement of the customer services provided at Rosneft filling stations is one of the Company priorities.
This contributes to the development of domestic automobile tourism, as the Company retail network is not only the largest in Russia in terms of geographical coverage and number of filling stations (around 3,000 stations), but also one of the leaders in terms of fuel recognition and quality.
Rosneft undertakes a number of actions aimed at creating comfortable conditions for automobile travelers. In addition to the Voronezh Oblast, the Company has so far presented joint tourist routes running through the Rosneft filling stations in the Republic of Karelia, as well as the Tula, Arkhangelsk, and Ulyanovsk Regions, as well as key routes between Moscow and Krasnaya Polyana, and between the two capitals.
On top of that, the Company has previously signed memoranda of cooperation to promote domestic tourism with the Moscow City Tourism Committee, the Government of the Samara Oblast, the Ministry of culture of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Altai Territory Department for Tourism and Resort Development, Tourism Agencies of the Ulyanovsk Oblast and the Republic of Udmurtia, and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Reference:
Rosneft retail network is the largest in the Russian Federation in terms of geographical coverage and number of stations, and the Rosneft brand of petrol stations is one of the leading brands in Russia in terms of fuel recognition and quality. The Company operates approximately 3,000 filling stations in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Abkhazia.
In addition to high-quality fuel, the Company offers its customers a wide range of goods and services, from stores and cafes to roadside service. For example, customers can stay for the night and get some rest from the long road in roadside hotels and multifunctional complexes of the Company in a number of regions.
The Company is also developing a new customer service at filling stations – food trucks (mobile retail outlets). The Café on Wheels service is available at filling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions where the retail network operates.
Rosneft
Information and Advertising Department
June 7, 2024
These materials contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and expectations. All statements contained in these materials that do not relate to matters of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any expected results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update the data contained herein to reflect actual performance or results, changes in underlying assumptions or factors affecting the forward-looking statements.
Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the XXVII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Rosneft and the Tourism Agency of the Krasnoyarsk Territory signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to promote domestic tourism.
The document provides for cooperation to boost the demand for domestic automobile tourism, promote the tourist potential of the region, including improvement of motorway service and Rosneft retail network infrastructure.
The parties plan to undertake a number of actions aimed at improving the comfort of automobile travelers, including motorway service at the Rosneft filling stations.
Development of the motorway service facilities and improvement of the customer services provided at Rosneft filling stations is one of the Company’s priorities. The Company retail network is not only the largest in Russia in terms of geographical coverage and number of filling stations (around 3,000 stations), but also one of the leaders in terms of fuel brand recognition and quality.
Rosneft undertakes a number of measures aimed at creating comfortable conditions for automobile travelers. Earlier, the Company, together with a number of regional authorities, has presented joint tourist routes running through the Rosneft filling stations in the Republic of Karelia, as well as the Tula, Arkhangelsk, and Ulyanovsk Regions, and the key routes between Moscow and Krasnaya Polyana, and between the two capitals.
In addition, the Company has previously signed memoranda of cooperation to promote domestic tourism with the Moscow City Tourism Committee, the government of the Samara Region, the Ministry of culture of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Altai Territory Department for Tourism and Resort Development, Tourism Agencies of the Ulyanovsk Region and the Republic of Udmurtia, and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
In 2023, Rosneft launched a special information and service platform “Russian Horizons: Come With Us!”. The special project allows car tourists to choose and plan routes to places of interest using the infrastructure of Rosneft’s network of motorway services and filling stations. The project “Horizons of Russia” has a number of key distinctions thanks to the unique navigation functionality, all interesting locations become stops on the route that a driver may can independently combine and modify at any time during the journey.
The Krasnoyarsk Territory is a strategic region of Rosneft operations. The region is home to the major Group Subsidiaries, including RN-Vankor, Vostsibneftegaz, Slavneft-Krasnoyarskneftegaz, Achinsk Refinery, service, marketing and logistics companies, and filling stations.
Vostok Oil, the flagship oil production project, is being delivered in the north of the region. Low unit production costs and low carbon footprint (only a quarter of the global average for new projects) make Vostok Oil one of the most promising and environmentally friendly oil production projects in the world. Industry experts estimate that the project will increase the annual Russian GDP by 2%.
Rosneft is also implementing a large-scale program in the Krasnoyarsk Territory to support educational institutions that provide comprehensive training courses to skilled workers and engineers for the Vostok Oil Project. Over 400,000 specialists will be engaged at the construction stage alone, and over 130,000 workers will be employed on a long-term basis at the Vostok Oil operational stage. A total of 10,000 people are already working at the project facilities.
Reference:
Rosneft’s retail network is the largest in the Russian Federation in terms of geographical coverage and number of stations, and the Rosneft brand of petrol stations is one of the leading brands in Russia in terms of recognition and fuel quality. The Company operates approximately 3,000 filling stations in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Abkhazia.
In addition to high-quality fuel, the Company offers its customers a wide range of goods and services, from stores and cafes to roadside service. For example, customers can stay for the night and get some rest from the long road in roadside hotels and multifunctional complexes of the Company in a number of regions.
The Company is also developing a new customer service at filling stations – food trucks (mobile retail outlets). The Café on Wheels service is available at filling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions where the retail network operates.
Information & Advertising Department
Rosneft
June 10, 2024
These materials contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and expectations. All statements contained in these materials that do not relate to matters of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any expected results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update the data contained herein to reflect actual performance or results, changes in underlying assumptions or factors affecting the forward-looking statements.
Please note; this information is the raw content received directly from the information source. This is exactly what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The aaniversary medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis is awarded to RUDN current and ex-employees and students for: significant contribution to the university development; long-standing commitment to maintaining ties with the university; fruitful cooperation of Russian and foreign organizations, scientists and public figures with the university.
The aaniversary medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis is awarded to RUDN current and ex-employees and students for:
For their contribution to the promotion of RUDN abroad, for maintaining relations with the university and cooperation, 16 foreign graduates received the V.F. Stanis anniversary medal:
Graduate ‘78 of the Faculty of Science, majoring in Chemistry, Navin Saxena is the President of the international group of pharmaceutical companies: Rusan Pharma (India), Euro-Med (Russia), Pharmaker (Great Britain), Uzpharmaker (Uzbekistan), Pharmaker (Ukraine), Pharmaker (UAE) and owns the pharmaceutical companies Rusan Pharma and Pharmaker. In 2005, Rusan Pharma became a supplier of vital drugs under the Benefit-2005 program in the Russian Federation. It still remains one of the largest suppliers of drugs to the Russian Ministry of Health, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as to the services of the Russian Army. Navin Saxena is the author of a large number of publications in Russian and foreign scientific journals, has drugs copyright certificates and patents.
All of them actively promote Russian education and the Russian language in their countries. Thus, Nilakshi Suryanarayan is the author of a popular manual among Indian students of philology, “Russian Verbs with Prefixes: Meaning and Usage”. Galina Abbas was awarded the Pushkin Medal, and Ruben Dario Flores is a translator of works by Russian poets A.Pushkin, B.Pasternak and A.Tarkovsky.
In 1978, Najim Riad Youssef graduated from the Faculty of Medicine. Najim Riad Youssef is the CEO of RamTEK LLC and Vice-Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Friendship Society, popularizing Russian higher education and science abroad, which made him the Ambassador of Russian Education and Science.
Kalumbi Shangula graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 1983. He is the Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia. He is member of the Medical Association of Namibia, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Great Britain, and the New York Academy of Sciences.
The largest number of graduates awarded the medal to the 100th anniversary of V.F. Stanis graduated from the Engineering faculty: Jose Hidalgo Salazar in 1973, Patwardhan Gagan in 1975, Al-Twal Salam Fakhri in 1983, Rigoberto Hilario Santos and Georges Aoun in 1984.
They continue to maintain contact with RUDN, creating new opportunities for the future students. Jose Hidalgo Salazar, CEO of IGGEKO LLC, became a laureate of the Order of Friendship. Al-Twal Salam Fakhri, a senior specialist in the regional office of the UN Development Program, member of the Jordan-Russia Friendship Society was awarded the Order of Friendship by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation. Rigoberto Hilario Santos, CEO of the engineering and construction company CONSUDOM SRL, member of the Presidium of the Dominican College of Architects and Geodesic Engineers, former Director of the Department of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications of the Dominican Republic, became the Ambassador of Russian Education and Science. Patwardhan Gagan, Head of Union Exports LLC, received the Order of Friendship for promoting the Russian language in Western India. Professor Georges Aoun, Head of the department of basic disciplines at the engineering faculty of the Lebanese University, organized summer schools with the Agrarian and Technological Institute, Engineering Academy and the Institute of the Russian language, as well as a double degree program with the Philological faculty of RUDN, author of a number of publication on teaching Russian as a foreign language.
Auelbek Tokzhanov, a 1982 graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture, is currently the CEO of Skymax Technologies Group of Companies, AK Karal Diatomit Industry. He heads the UDN-RUDN Alumni and Friends Association in Kazakhstan and is a member of the expert group in the Innovative Economy direction of the Nur Otan party. Aulbek Tokzhanov is a co-founder of the Literary Alliance Public Foundation, which supports the work of Olzhas Suleimenov and young talents.
Gupta Sudhir is a 1983 graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amtel Corporation. To support students, he has established 80 personal scholarships of 3,000 rubles per month. Gupta Sudhir was also awarded the Order of Friendship.
V.F. Stanis anniversary medals were also awarded to 28 Russian graduates, employees and partners of RUDN University.
Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Ambassadors of Russian education and science met at a conference in RUDN University to discuss how they can increase the visibility of Russian universities and research organizations in the world, and attract more international students in Russia.
More than 70 people gathered at the conference:
“Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science” is a RUDN University project that brings together graduates of Russian universities, government and public figures from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the CIS. They voluntarily and gratuitously promote Russian education, brands of Russian educational and scientific organizations, and the Russian education and science system as a whole in their countries.
Graduates of Russian and Soviet universities are guides of Russian education and science in their countries. Cooperation with them will increase the number of international students in Russia, strengthen the authority and reputation of Russian education and science, and strengthen cooperation between foreign countries and Russia. Promotion of the Russian language as one of the world’s languages will also be important.
Vladimir Filippov
President of RUDN University, Chairman of the Consortium Council
Head of the Department of External Relations and International Projects of the Center for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation Elena Averkova spoke on key international humanitarian projects:
Acting Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kudryavtsev stressed that Russia ranks 4th in the list of countries where current heads of foreign states and governments got their degrees. He added that currently in Russia there are 77 bilateral and 15 multilateral agreements in the field of mutual recognition of education, qualifications and academic degrees. Another 50 draft agreements are under development.
Ambassador of Russian Education and Science, General Director of the International Coordinating Council of Graduates of Educational Institutions (INCORVUZ-XXI) Kochofa Aniset Gabriel noted important areas of work to promote Russian education and science:
The participants of the meeting shared their vision of the development and promotion of Russian education and science abroad. They suggested speeding up the registration of study visas for foreign applicants coming to Russia. The Ambassadors of Russian Education and Science also believe that it is necessary to involve Rossotrudnichestvo and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation to supply textbooks on the Russian language and literature to Russian schools and Russian language learning centers created on the initiative of foreign graduates of Soviet and Russian universities.
Following the conference, participants outlined a work plan for 2025.
Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Peoples’Friendship University of Russia –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The forum attracted over 400 representatives from 36 countries, including delegates from 16 Asian countries, experts from the nuclear industry, supporting and partner universities of Rosatom.
This forum brought together leaders who are committed to stating their ideas and forming teams. You can connect with like-minded people and explore new areas for collaboration. It is essential to support the initiatives of talented students from Asia, who will return to their home countries and develop the nuclear industry in the region.
Vladimir Filippov
President of RUDN University
With the support of Rosatom State Corporation, more than 800 students from Asia are studying in Russia in nuclear engineering programs.
Rosatom is a global leader in nuclear energy. We successfully export both advanced technologies and best educational practices. Our unique educational ecosystem enables us to train top-class specialists starting from school. Within the framework of joint educational initiatives, we collaborate with 17 Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan. We offer comprehensive solutions for human resource development – ranging from staff training and university education in Russia to advanced professional development and joint research projects. We take into account the specific needs of each partner country and through transfer of education and technologies we generate new industries and job opportunities.
Tatyana Terentieva
Rosatom Deputy Director General for HR
The forum featured presentations across seven thematic sections covering nuclear energy and its related applications: Nuclear Reactors, Radiation Safety, Agrotechnologies, Environmental Science, Nuclear Medicine, as well as Youth and Public Organizations and Contribution of Alumni to Regional Development.
Speakers included students and young researchers from the supporting and partner universities of Rosatom: MEPhI, TPU, UrFU, NNSTU n.a. R.E. Alekseev, Yuri Gagarin SSTU, Peter the Great SPbPU, BMSTU, IKBFU, LETI and RUDN.
The forum spanned 36 countries, with 16 of them representing Asia. Participants and experts came from Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and other Asian countries.
Please note; this information is raw content received directly from the information source. It is an accurate account of what the source claims, and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A humanoid robot poses during a permanent exhibition at the Zhongguancun Exhibition Center in Beijing, capital of China, March 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
As the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates the 104th anniversary of its founding this week, the Party’s signature five-year plans continue to serve as a roadmap for China’s modernization drive.
This year, China is set to complete its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and is formulating the blueprint for the next one, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s long-term strategy for national rejuvenation.
From transforming an agrarian society into the world’s second-largest economy to charting a path toward becoming a great modern socialist country in all respects by mid-century, these plans reflect the CPC’s enduring commitment to long-term strategic vision and collective prosperity.
Through this cyclical yet ever-evolving roadmap, China sets strategic goals, defines government priorities, regulates business operations, and mobilizes national resources — all in pursuit of its overarching objective of building a modern socialist nation.
The country’s first plan in 1953 marked its initial push toward industrialization with the establishment of the nation’s first major steel and automobile plants. Fast-forward to the 13th (2016-2020), and it saw the completion of the world’s largest high-speed rail network.
“Five-year plans are to China’s development what construction drawings are to building a house,” said Ran Hao, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. “It tells the government and society which ‘floor’ to focus on and which ‘road’ to build over the next five years, helping avoid a piecemeal approach.”
A FRAMEWORK, NOT A DOGMA
Although China’s five-year plans include quantitative targets, such as the GDP growth goal, first introduced in the seventh five-year plan, it does not mean the CPC is running a centralized planned economy.
“It’s not about the government dictating everything; rather, the plans set the direction and priorities,” Ran said.
Since 2006, targets have been divided into two types: binding targets, which reflect government commitments, such as reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP, and anticipatory targets, which represent desired outcomes like GDP growth, to be pursued primarily through market mechanisms.
In a break from tradition, the 14th Five-Year Plan did not set a quantitative target for GDP growth; instead, it described expected growth in broader terms, in part to emphasize quality over speed.
“Five-year plans are suited to the Chinese mentality and the Chinese idea of thinking long-term,” said British scholar Martin Jacques. For millennia, Confucian classics have taught that those who plan ahead are more likely to succeed.
China’s five-year plans set clear goals but give regions the leeway needed to tailor their own pathways. National plans are broad frameworks that guide local governments in creating their own action plans, explained Yin Jun, a researcher with the Peking University.
At present, the CPC is drafting proposals for the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
Observers said the upcoming plan will emphasize a future-oriented approach to global challenges, foster new quality productive forces, and strengthen the social safety net to improve public well-being.
PLANNING WITH COLLECTIVE EFFORTS
Given their far-reaching impact, China’s five-year plans are developed over several years, and informed by research, expert reviews, inter-agency coordination and public consultation. For example, work on the current 14th Five-Year Plan began as early as 2018.
While drafting the five-year plan, the CPC highly values public inputs, which reflect society’s needs and help foster consensus. In 2020, for the first time, public advice was collected online, with suggestions like mutual-aid elderly care included in the final plan.
Over three months that year, seven symposiums were held with the Party’s leader meeting with entrepreneurs, experts, local officials, and representatives from the grassroots level to listen to their suggestions.
The combination of top-level planning with public participation continued this year. In May, major media platforms invited public feedback, and netizens proposed improvements such as enhancing rural express delivery infrastructure and installing elevators in older communities, among other ideas.
An old saying from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” offers insight into the success of China’s five-year plans: Triumph comes when the leaders and the people share the same goal.
Visitors learn about a BYD Yangwang U9 at the 2024 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, east China’s Anhui Province, Sept. 20, 2024. (Xinhua/Fu Tian)
IMPACT BEYOND BORDERS
China’s five-year plans not only guide national development but also offer opportunities for global investors.
Madiyar Tukpatov, chairman of a public transport company in Astana, Kazakhstan, visited China earlier this year to research electric buses. His company began using Chinese electric buses in 2020 and plans to further integrate Chinese EV technology into Astana’s transport system.
New energy vehicles (NEVs) have been developed as a strategic industry over several five-year plans. Their production and sales each exceeded 12.8 million units in 2024, maintaining China’s position as the global leader in this sector for 10 consecutive years. Chinese NEVs can be found in over 70 countries and regions.
Benjamin Mgana, chief editor of foreign news at The Guardian newspaper in Tanzania, praised China’s approach to planning, saying it demonstrates that developing countries can create workable strategies based on their own realities, rather than copying Western models.
Inspired by China’s success, a growing number of countries have adopted their own medium- to long-term strategies. Poland, Ethiopia and Tanzania have sought support from Chinese institutions to assist in their planning process.
Source: China State Council Information Office
Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the New Development Bank and meets with Dilma Rousseff, president of the institution, in Shanghai, east China, April 29, 2025. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
On the banks of the shimmering Huangpu River that cuts through the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai sits the headquarters of the New Development Bank, co-founded by the BRICS countries more than a decade ago to foster the shared development of the world’s emerging economies.
In his visit to this new landmark in China’s financial center late April, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the bank’s president and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff this multilateral institution has been a result of “a pioneering initiative for the Global South to seek strength through unity.”
For the Chinese leader, the BRICS mechanism is a major platform for promoting cooperation among countries in the Global South. In the coming days, this year’s BRICS summit will open in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro under the theme of “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.”
Xi’s April visit to the bank demonstrates his long-standing commitment to bolstering the solidarity and common development of the Global South, amplifying the role of over 6 billion people in a world fraught with uncertainty and challenges unseen in a century.
Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with other leaders and representatives attending the “BRICS Plus” Dialogue in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 24, 2024. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
COLLECTIVE RISE
“The collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the great transformation across the world,” Xi observed when addressing the “BRICS Plus” Dialogue held in Kazan, Russia, in October last year.
Much more than a pure geographical or economic term, the Global South refers to a community of emerging markets and developing countries that share similar historical experiences, development stages and goals, and political pursuits.
The concept of “South” was first coined in Antonio Gramsci’s work “The Southern Question” written in 1926, in which the Italian Marxist philosopher highlighted the development gap between northern and southern Italy.
The rise of the Global South has been decades in the making. Back in 1955, the landmark Bandung Conference convened in Indonesia under the flag of solidarity, friendship and cooperation, marking the awakening of the Global South after centuries of Western colonial rule. In 1964, the Group of 77, a coalition of developing countries, was established in Geneva within the United Nations to promote South-South cooperation and form a new international economic order.
Through extensive cooperation, the countries of the Global South have emerged as a key driver of global growth. These countries have contributed as much as 80 percent of global growth over the past 20 years, with a share of global GDP increasing from 24 percent four decades ago to more than 40 percent today.
China, the world’s largest developing country, is a natural member of the Global South. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme included China in its list of more than 130 Global South countries in a report titled “Forging a Global South.” Some Westerners have challenged China’s position that it is part of the Global South. In response, Xi has provided a clear answer.
“As a developing country and a member of the Global South, China breathes the same breath with other developing countries and pursues a shared future with them,” Xi once said.
Historically, China has suffered from Western colonialism and imperialism, much like other developing countries, said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.
“Even today, despite inordinate success by Beijing to rise from the backwaters of development to be the second-largest economy in the world, as well as the first developing country to eliminate extreme poverty, China still faces common development challenges, and holds similar views regarding the current international order and global governance,” he added. “Because of this, China has emerged as a strong champion for the legitimate rights and interests of many Global South countries.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and delivers a keynote speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 5, 2024. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND
Ahead of Xi’s state visit to Brazil late last year, the Portuguese edition of the book “Up And Out Of Poverty” was officially launched in Rio de Janeiro. The book, first published in 1992, outlines Xi’s perspectives on poverty eradication, local governance, reform and development when he worked in the formerly impoverished prefecture of Ningde in China’s southeastern Fujian province.
Poverty has long ranked atop among the problems facing the Global South. With Xi’s steadfast commitment and strong leadership, China has eradicated absolute poverty in its rural areas, a feat that no one had accomplished in China for thousands of years.
At the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro last year, Xi spoke with quiet conviction, recounting his lifelong dedication to poverty alleviation, from his time as a local official to his current role as China’s top leader.
In his speech, Xi said a weaker bird can start early and fly high. “If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too. This is what China’s battle against poverty says to the world,” he said.
Xi’s “weaker bird” metaphor originated from his book on poverty. His speech struck a chord with several foreign leaders, who asked the Chinese delegation whether they could share a copy of the speech.
The Chinese leader has placed great emphasis on development. For him, “development holds the master key to solving all problems,” particularly when the global development gap continues to widen. Over the years, Xi has also been active in rallying global efforts to put development back on the international agenda as a central priority.
When attending the general debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in 2021 via video, Xi proposed the Global Development Initiative, an international policy framework to promote sustainable development around the world. To date, the initiative has garnered the support and participation of over 100 countries and 20 international organizations.
Intelligent equipment lifts containers at Chancay Port, Peru, on Nov. 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin)
To boost common development in the Global South, Xi has been promoting practical cooperation through major infrastructure projects within the Belt and Road Initiative. During his foreign visits over the years, Xi would launch or visit major projects, such as the Chancay Port in Peru, the Dushanbe No. 2 power plant in Tajikistan and the Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka. When hosting leaders of the Global South in Beijing, Xi would also discuss with them major projects for cooperation during their talks.
Xi believes that the Global South should be the main driving force for common development and that “On the path to modernization, no one, and no country, should be left behind.” He also supports countries of the Global South exploring paths of modernization tailored to their distinctive national conditions, rather than following Western development models.
Also at last year’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Xi outlined eight measures in support of Global South cooperation, ranging from high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to boosting development in Africa. Months earlier, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing last year, Xi unveiled 10 partnership actions and granted zero-tariff treatment on all product categories to the least developed countries with which it has diplomatic relations.
An exhibitor (R) introduces African products to visitors during the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center in Changsha, central China’s Hunan Province, June 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)
Gu Qingyang, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said, “China can play a positive role in the development of Global South countries,” adding that Chinese technology and expertise in industrial development can support the modernization of the Global South’s various regions.
EMPOWERING GLOBAL SOUTH IN INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE
As Xi once observed, in the face of global changes of the century, pursuing modernization and working for a more just and equitable international order are the sacred historic missions of Global South countries.
Xi described the BRICS countries as “leading members of the Global South,” calling for building BRICS into “a primary channel for strengthening solidarity and cooperation among Global South nations and a vanguard for advancing global governance reform.”
Since becoming Chinese president in 2013, Xi has always been a steadfast champion of BRICS cooperation. In Xiamen, he advocated for the “BRICS Plus” program at the 2017 BRICS summit, calling for more active participation from other emerging markets and developing nations. He played a crucial role in propelling the BRICS’ historic expansion in 2023, ushering in the era of greater BRICS cooperation.
Effective coordination between BRICS members and other countries in the Global South has been adding more bricks to the global governance architecture. The New Development Bank exemplifies this effort.
Xi said the bank serves as “an important emerging force in the international financial system,” which should work to “make the international financial system fairer and more equitable and effectively enhance the representation and say of emerging markets and developing countries.”
Aerial photo taken on Dec. 17, 2020 shows the headquarters building of BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) in east China’s Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)
Over the years, China, under Xi’s leadership, has taken concrete steps to advocate for developing countries, help Global South countries enhance their representation and voice in international governance, and promote a more just and equitable international order.
At the 2022 G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, China took the lead in supporting the African Union (AU)’s membership in the G20. In their meeting on the sidelines of the summit, then Senegalese President Macky Sall, who was also the AU chairperson that year, thanked Xi for being the first to publicly support the AU’s G20 membership.
The global leadership today remains lopsided, and rebalancing this skewed system is a shared imperative for both the Global North and South, said Paolo Magri, managing director and chair of the advisory board of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, a think tank.
“Global South countries marching together toward modernization is monumental in world history and unprecedented in human civilization,” Xi said at the “BRICS Plus” Dialogue in Kazan, Russia, last year, while acknowledging that “the road to prosperity for the Global South will not be straight.”
“No matter how the international landscape evolves, we in China will always keep the Global South in our heart, and maintain our roots in the Global South,” Xi pledged.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Tbilisi, July 2 (Xinhua) — As a result of joint measures carried out by the Migration Department and other units of the Georgian Interior Ministry, 41 foreign citizens were expelled from the country, the press service of the Georgian Interior Ministry reported on Wednesday.
The expulsion was carried out on the basis of the Georgian Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons. Among those deported were citizens of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, India, Jordan, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Armenia and Zimbabwe. All of them were banned from re-entering the country.
According to official data, 525 foreign citizens were deported from Georgia between January and June 2025. This is 280 percent more than the same period last year.
In late June, the Georgian parliament approved a package of legislative amendments aimed at tightening migration policy. The new rules provide for a simplified deportation procedure. Court proceedings will no longer suspend the expulsion process if a visa or residence permit is refused. –0–
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.) led 68 of their Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to rescind his discriminatory travel ban that will keep families apart and devastate the U.S. economy. The members are demanding transparency into President Trump’s decision-making process and answers about how the travel ban will impact communities across the U.S.
In a letter addressed to President Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, Secretary of State Rubio, and Attorney General Bondi, the members outlined the disastrous consequences that President Trump’s travel ban will have on both families and the American economy.
“The effects of President Trump’s discriminatory travel ban will be devastating. In the last year alone over 126,000 visas have been issued to nationals from just the twelve countries on the fully restricted list. These are individuals who are looking to come to the United States to reunite with family, support our economy, or otherwise enrich our country in innumerable ways,” wrote the members.
During his first term, President Trump enacted extreme travel bans that disrupted thousands of lives and weakened our nation’s economy and global standing. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden rescinded these bans, but on June 4, 2025, President Trump enacted another sweeping, discriminatory travel ban.
President Trump is imposing full restrictions on entry into the United States from nationals of Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and partial restrictions on entry from nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela—meaning individuals from these countries cannot come to the U.S. permanently or apply for certain visas. President Trump is also reportedly considering imposing travel restrictions on an additional 36 countries.
“President Trump’s actions once again disgrace the founding principles of our nation and enshrine cruelty into our immigration system,” the members continue. “Additionally, this travel ban will harm our economy by depriving the United States of workers in key fields experiencing labor shortages like medicine and agriculture and further devastating our domestic tourism industry which is already expected to decline by $12.5 billion in 2025.”
As a result, the members demand accountability and answers from the Trump administration. The members wrote, “Given these severe impacts, we condemn this proclamation and urge President Trump to rescind it immediately. We also seek transparency into President Trump’s decision-making process and, accordingly, request answers to the following questions by July 3rd, 2025.”
Earlier this year, Senator Coons and Representative Chu, alongside 130 of their colleagues, reintroduced the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, which would prevent any president from implementing a discriminatory travel ban by strengthening the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit discrimination based on religion. The bill would also require that any suspension of entry into the United States be narrowly tailored, backed by credible evidence, and subject to appropriate consultation with Congress.
You can read the full letter here.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
ALMATY, July 2 (Xinhua) — The National Bank of Kazakhstan will amend some regulations on payments and money transfers, according to which it will be prohibited to buy housing in new buildings for cash, the Kazinform news agency reported on Wednesday.
The amendments stipulate that all payments under equity participation agreements (EPAs) must be made in non-cash form, including by depositing cash into the bank account of an authorized construction company through banks.
These requirements will apply only to transactions on the primary market /purchase of a share in an apartment building or complex of individual residential buildings under construction/ and are aimed at protecting the rights of equity holders from risks associated with unregistered DDUs. –0–
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
TIANJIN, July 2 (Xinhua) — The 12th meeting of transport ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states was held in north China’s Tianjin Municipality on Wednesday. During the event, transport ministers agreed to strengthen regional connectivity.
During the meeting, a memorandum of understanding between the transport departments of the SCO member states on the joint construction of “Silk Road stations” was approved and signed.
Chinese Transport Minister Liu Wei noted that the “Silk Road stations,” which will be jointly built at China’s suggestion, will provide drivers carrying out international transportation in the SCO regions with all the necessary services, including parking, rest areas and hot water supply.
The initiative will help address the growing shortage of rest stops, supply and repair points on highways, which increases the risk of tired driving and reduces the efficiency of cross-border passenger and freight transport, despite the rapid growth in their numbers.
The meeting was attended by heads of transport departments from Pakistan, Mongolia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The participants also discussed in detail such aspects of cooperation in the transport sector as promoting high-quality development of China-Europe railway transportation and the introduction of electronic licenses for international road transportation. –0–
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA
The IAEA conducted its first INEAS university mission in April in Ust Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, a country that is looking to restart its nuclear power programme. The mission — which engaged more than 90 participants from academia, government and industry — laid the ground for the development of a new bachelor’s degree programme in the ‘Operation of Nuclear Power Plants’ at the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University. It included curriculum workshops, technical visits and stakeholder consultations.
The IAEA also participated in an international forum with 14 expert presentations from Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia, highlighting international best practices in nuclear education. Key outcomes included recommendations for planning national human resources development, curriculum enhancement, and expansion of cooperation through IAEA technical projects and STAR-NET, a regional network that promotes education and training in nuclear technologies.
“We are grateful to the IAEA for sending experts to our university to support the development of nuclear energy infrastructure. Their assistance also proved very helpful in designing the educational programme,” said Aizhan Baidildina, an associate professor at the the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University.
Kazakhstan, which is working with the IAEA to develop the infrastructure to reintroduce nuclear power, aims to complete its first nuclear power reactor in the next eight years. Its construction is expected to provide clean, reliable energy to the Central Asian country of 19 million people. Scientific and technical personnel are also being trained to operate the plant. Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium reserves in the world, accounting for 14 per cent of the global total. The country currently operates research reactors as well as several other nuclear installations related to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) –
The IAEA conducted its first INEAS university mission in April in Ust Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, a country that is looking to restart its nuclear power programme. The mission — which engaged more than 90 participants from academia, government and industry — laid the ground for the development of a new bachelor’s degree programme in the ‘Operation of Nuclear Power Plants’ at the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University. It included curriculum workshops, technical visits and stakeholder consultations.
The IAEA also participated in an international forum with 14 expert presentations from Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia, highlighting international best practices in nuclear education. Key outcomes included recommendations for planning national human resources development, curriculum enhancement, and expansion of cooperation through IAEA technical projects and STAR-NET, a regional network that promotes education and training in nuclear technologies.
“We are grateful to the IAEA for sending experts to our university to support the development of nuclear energy infrastructure. Their assistance also proved very helpful in designing the educational programme,” said Aizhan Baidildina, an associate professor at the the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University.
Kazakhstan, which is working with the IAEA to develop the infrastructure to reintroduce nuclear power, aims to complete its first nuclear power reactor in the next eight years. Its construction is expected to provide clean, reliable energy to the Central Asian country of 19 million people. Scientific and technical personnel are also being trained to operate the plant. Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium reserves in the world, accounting for 14 per cent of the global total. The country currently operates research reactors as well as several other nuclear installations related to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
The IAEA conducted its first INEAS university mission in April in Ust Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, a country that is looking to restart its nuclear power programme. The mission — which engaged more than 90 participants from academia, government and industry — laid the ground for the development of a new bachelor’s degree programme in the ‘Operation of Nuclear Power Plants’ at the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University. It included curriculum workshops, technical visits and stakeholder consultations.
The IAEA also participated in an international forum with 14 expert presentations from Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia, highlighting international best practices in nuclear education. Key outcomes included recommendations for planning national human resources development, curriculum enhancement, and expansion of cooperation through IAEA technical projects and STAR-NET, a regional network that promotes education and training in nuclear technologies.
“We are grateful to the IAEA for sending experts to our university to support the development of nuclear energy infrastructure. Their assistance also proved very helpful in designing the educational programme,” said Aizhan Baidildina, an associate professor at the the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University.
Kazakhstan, which is working with the IAEA to develop the infrastructure to reintroduce nuclear power, aims to complete its first nuclear power reactor in the next eight years. Its construction is expected to provide clean, reliable energy to the Central Asian country of 19 million people. Scientific and technical personnel are also being trained to operate the plant. Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium reserves in the world, accounting for 14 per cent of the global total. The country currently operates research reactors as well as several other nuclear installations related to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — Lentils were imported into northwest China’s Gansu Province for the first time on a China-Central Asia International Railway freight train route, Zhongxinwang reported Wednesday, citing local customs information.
According to customs data, the said freight train loaded with 1,119.86 tons of lentils imported from Zhaltyr /Kazakhstan/ has successfully arrived in Lanzhou, the provincial capital. After customs inspection and verification, this batch of agricultural products will be supplied to the Chinese market.
Lentils are an important raw material for the preparation of some delicacies that are traditionally popular among residents of northwestern China.
“This is the first time we have imported lentils from Zhaltyr,” said Huang Yalong, general manager of one of the local companies that imported the cargo, adding that with a noticeable improvement in transportation times, the journey time was only four days.
In recent years, Lanzhou Customs has been actively assisting enterprises in developing grain markets in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. By expanding the implementation of the express customs clearance model for cargo in rail transportation, the efficiency of customs clearance for China-Europe and China-Central Asia trains has been improved, the report said.
Since the launch of China-Central Asia grain import trains in Gansu Province, the range of cargo has been greatly expanded to include flaxseed, sunflower seeds, buckwheat, peas, beans, lentils and other specific categories of grain. -0-
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
The digital transformation of public administration should increase the speed of data processing and routine procedures, improve the technologies of intra-departmental and interdepartmental interaction. This creates the conditions for the transition to more effective management based on data. Vyshka.Glavnoe talked about the features of the digitalization of government agencies with the head of the International Laboratory of Digital Transformation in Public Administration IGMU HSE Evgeny Styrin.
— Tell us how the laboratory was created?
— The idea of the laboratory crystallized into an application in 2020. But five years earlier, colleagues at the HSE Institute of Public Administration and Governance, who were actively involved in expert activities, consulting, and solving everyday management problems, came up with the idea of activating scientific work, including participating in high-level conferences, preparing articles for leading journals, and conducting in-depth research in the field of public administration and related disciplines. Public administration as a science is closely related to management, political science, and even psychology. There was a need to create a separate team of highly qualified scientists. We understood that additional research competencies in public administration and giving a scientific impetus to its study were needed.
We discussed the idea with the director of the institute, Andrey Borisovich Zhulin. When the university announced a competition to create international laboratories (the project “HSE Centres of Excellence“), we already had a research plan. In 2021, our application became one of the winners.
— What role does the laboratory’s leading scientist, Professor Eran Vigoda-Gadot, play in its work?
— Since 2021, the laboratory has been operating as an international one. Due to the difficult international situation, its scientific directors have changed. In early 2023, I offered the position of academic director of the laboratory to Eran Vigoda-Gadot, a professor at the University of Haifa. He agreed, and we managed to establish sustainable cooperation. He is an outstanding scholar, the author of several monographs on public administration and publications in leading global journals. And for him, the proposal to develop the topic of digital transformation was a challenge. A lot of work needs to be done to understand practical developments, transfer them to academic research and publish them. In fact, we need to rethink how all concepts and ideas are affected in the academic discipline of public administration. This is partly being done by our team. But there is an ambition to create a map of comparisons of key concepts of public administration and their evolution under the influence of the potential of digital technologies over the past 10-15 years.
— What are the priority areas of transformation? How does improving document flow, interaction within and between institutions affect the quality of management?
— The state and its individual institutions have current tasks, and we were looking for a topic that had not been developed theoretically. When Professor Vigoda-Gadot and I were forming the research program for the laboratory, we found out that a number of issues, for example, the digitalization of government services and even the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies, had been studied from an academic point of view and it was necessary to look for our own scientific niche. And then we turned to a very interesting problem of digital governance based on emotions. From a technological point of view, a lot has been studied. But citizens can reject government products due to emotional or psychophysiological rejection, an inconvenient human-computer interface, difficulties in using online services or, for example, mistrust of digital identification and other digital solutions of the state. We decided to look at the process of digital transformation from the point of view of citizens’ perception. There was a need to develop and understand the phenomenon of citizens’ digital trust in the state.
At the same time, it was important for the laboratory to realize its mission of adequate implementation of state digital solutions, by which we mean compliance with public and civil values, principles of ethics. We want to expand and develop theories of perception and adaptation of digital technologies by citizens, taking into account the dimensions of digital trust and the emotional component. Now this is the main focus of the academic part of our research.
— Doesn’t it happen that digitalization of processes leads to duplication of paper documents in electronic form and an increase in the office workload (which doctors and teachers have complained about)? Can this be avoided?
— We believe that the accumulated experience reflects a fairly high level of digital maturity of government bodies, the ability to create and scale digital solutions. But what the citizen wants has not been fully studied. This is largely due to the technological optimism of digital solution manufacturers on the part of the state, they are confident that their technologies will be in demand by citizens.
We see that this is not always the case. We are developing models of citizens’ perception of digital transformation, what external and value factors influence it, which takes time to create a foundation, if you will, a new theory of digital emotional management. A series of experiments and studies on this issue are being conducted, in practice, how ordinary citizens perceive and adapt various digital solutions for themselves is being studied.
– For example?
— In one of the experiments, we show respondents videos about digital transformation (DT), presenting it in a positive, negative and neutral way, and then ask questions about the perception of DT. We found out during the experiments that if you first evoke negative emotions, then the subsequent perception of digital solutions will be even more negative for a long period, even if the citizen successfully used their results.
If you show the positive role of technology to the subject, the answer will also be positive, but the positive message evokes a relatively weak response compared to the negative one. This seems obvious, but no one has yet conducted such research specifically in the context of public administration. We did this and launched a cross-cultural comparative study in six countries: the United States, Germany, Poland, Israel, the United Kingdom and Russia.
— Please name the key projects.
— The study of emotional state digital governance is a key project that is divided into several areas. It is very important for us, I have given examples of the studies above.
We believe that this is an area where we can say a new word in science. We hope that taking this factor into account by government bodies will allow for more accurate and personalized creation of digital solutions, taking into account the emotional characteristics of a person, increasing their demand and thereby increasing the efficiency of using budget funds for their development.
Separate areas are the impact of digital platforms on the labor market and state regulation of communication and expression of will on platforms. This topic is studied by senior research fellow Evgeny Diskin. We also study the role of the personality of managers – vice-mayors, vice-governors, heads of departments – in the pace and direction of transformation (leading research fellow Anna Sanina, research fellow Aisylu Atayeva).
— What is the laboratory’s work aimed at, when electronic interaction between residents of most cities and various government agencies is already, at first glance, well established?
— We are investigating how digitalization differs from digitalization and digital transformation. The first involves converting paper documents into an electronic image. It does not yet allow a machine to recognize it. This is the first step, the zero stage for accumulating data in digital form, without it it is difficult to engage in digitalization of management.
Then the process affects the internal processes of public administration, its interaction with citizens and business. It became clear that it was easier to organize communication when the state front office became electronic, through it it became possible to make requests, send data, and changes began. Electronic document flow appeared, which improved control over the passage of documents, which does not mean the cancellation of parallel circulation of paper documents, the authorities began to collect the first data in digital form in machine-readable formats.
Digitalization continues, with its different stages occurring in parallel.
— What is digital transformation then?
— This is management based on data accumulated during the digitalization stage, using the digital footprint and profile of a citizen acting in different roles: taxpayer, patient, student or recipient of social benefits. Its success depends on how effectively it is possible to form predictive and recommendation models that use data about citizens to create new, higher quality services.
But digital transformation is innovation and reform in the system of government bodies, often quite abrupt, and the most difficult thing to change is a person in different positions: an official, an elected representative, etc. It is very difficult to form a digital culture, its correct perception by employees, this turned out to be not obvious for the teams themselves within the government bodies, changes require effort and understandable technology.
— Can you explain its benefits using a specific example?
— For example, a person feels ill on the street. If there is a digital patient card, the ambulance that arrives on call will quickly understand what could have happened to him, provide him with effective assistance, which will help to avoid serious harm to health and, possibly, save a life. But this requires complete and consistent data, and well protected from fraudsters.
The state should create not only convenient services, but also, taking into account the needs of citizens, convenient products that accompany different periods of their lives. Then it will be possible to achieve high personalization of the consideration of citizens’ needs and human attitude towards them.
— What is it? How does personalization for citizens differ from customer-centricity in business?
— This means that a person does not need to contact the state with a request; it, knowing his needs, will offer him the services he needs. For example, it will offer him a medical examination. And in difficult times — options for convenient options in ensuring health, social well-being, developing skills in the labor market, etc. This is a proactive approach, possible only thanks to digital transformation and high-quality data on the state side.
— How do you see the practical application of the laboratory’s research?
— Another of our missions, as we see it, is to form a pool of knowledge and competencies that are in demand by civil servants, so that they, for example, understand how to competently collect data, check and analyze it, form channels for exchanging information for quick interaction between different departments and agencies as a whole. That is, the key task of digital transformation for government agencies is to create a complete, cleaned, verified and balanced set of depersonalized data and exchange it safely.
To do this, it is necessary to modernize the authorities themselves, change the attitude of civil servants to working with data, as well as improve the interfaces for interaction with citizens and businesses and, most importantly, monitor new technologies, their potential and emerging new digital solutions. At a certain stage, they will have to adapt and include the capabilities of machine learning and AI technologies in everyday activities. At the same time, it is necessary to protect the rights of citizens, the inviolability of their personal information, thereby forming a system of digital trust between the digital contour of the state and citizens.
We are not only engaged in academic activities; we have a need to implement our ideas and developments in practice in the daily activities of government bodies.
We are running a project on digital maturity of government bodies using the example of the Moscow City Control Complex. It includes five executive bodies engaged in different types of control in the city. We have implemented a digital maturity model that allows us to determine the current level of technology, the readiness of employees to use it, and also to outline roadmaps, according to which the Control Complex can solve the tasks of the digital control, where we highlight strategic management, personnel and process management, development of models and data, ensuring security and creating digital products.
The project combines scientific and practical tasks, and now the control bodies have agreed with the assessments of digital maturity and are showing a willingness to change independently.
— How different is the level of development of digital technologies in public administration in the capital and the regions?
— We are happy with our interaction with Moscow, but it is a well-off, rich region with high-quality infrastructure and management. Many regions cannot afford large projects. They do not have the resources and competencies of civil servants to formulate the goals of future changes, as well as large IT companies with a sufficient number of qualified employees, that is, a developed IT industry.
It is also important to understand that digital transformation is not only an expensive process, but also a complex one. You can spend a lot of money and end up with unclaimed digital products.
Currently, federal authorities are actively promoting a platform approach, whereby regions can use ready-made digital platform solutions and connect to them, introducing components that take into account local specifics.
Achieving digital maturity means, among other things, how successfully it will be possible to scale solutions developed at the federal level and in leading regions to the rest of Russia. Regions have different potential, digital solutions and the quality of human resources are different, so it is impossible to achieve the same results everywhere in the same amount of time.
— What other applied projects could you name?
— Together with Laboratory of human-centeredness and leadership practices HSE, we assessed the human-centricity of bank chatbots by order of the Bank of Russia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is concerned about protecting the rights and comfort of citizens as consumers in communication with a chatbot. We studied what properties banking solutions should have for this, and we are proud that the result was sent to all employees of the Bank of Russia, including regional offices.
We are also developing a system for evaluating government chatbots for convenience and functionality, and we would like to add an emotional component to it – how citizens perceive this convenience, so that digital products are more adapted to their needs.
— How do you use the results of your research activities in your academic work?
— Part of the laboratory’s mission is to prepare training courses. We turn academic research into courses, complementing them, and then offer the courses to students and other listeners. This is what Yaroslav Ivanovich Kuzminov talks about — when research helps education and creates new partnerships. The laboratory staff teaches a university-wide elective course on the digital transformation of public administration. We are currently developing a business game for civil servants related to the specifics of working during the digital transformation. We will continue to form these courses and invest in continuing education programs to provide access to everyone — students, specialists improving their qualifications, and especially civil servants: how to adapt technologies, in particular AI, how to implement them so that they are convenient for all users.
In 2023, we became the methodologists of a unique program for civil servants in African countries, carried out in collaboration with Center for African Studies HSE University. We developed the program content aimed at transferring Russian experience of digital transformation, supported the training of African students. They received DPO certificates in English.
— What new ideas did you come up with during the implementation of the project?Mirror Laboratories“, jointly with Pskov State University?
— We studied the geography of local communities, how municipal centers and communities of people in places of residence differ, how they perceive digital solutions and digital transformation, how residents of cities and small towns relate to them.
— Can we talk about some kind of digital trust?
— Yes, this is another direction of our research. We are thinking of scaling the project, determining the level of digital trust in the regions and finding out the reasons for the differences. It is important to determine them and understand what influences the different levels of digital trust in neighboring regions or even within the same territory.
For example, the state has a digital solution, and we need to understand why people do not use it and what motivates citizens to come to the portals of departments. Or those registered on “Gosuslugi” use only part of the opportunities. It is not about technology. People often remember their previous, often even pre-digital experience of interaction with the state, often unsuccessful and unpleasant, and we need to work with citizens so that they use digital solutions more actively, trust them.
The state should continue to make efforts to ensure that digital services are significantly more convenient than offline services. For example, a super service for applicants when applying to universities on the federal portal of state services, when the applicant adds the Unified State Exam scores, certificate and other documents to the application. This is so convenient that refusing to use the super service puts the citizen in a clearly disadvantageous situation in relation to those who use it.
But to create such a super service, federal agencies had to organize data exchange, verify applicants’ statuses, and negotiate with universities about their connection to the service and participation in its work.
— Can we say that some digital government projects did not take off in the provinces? Why?
— In the Pskov region, we studied, among other things, how citizens use technologies, taking into account the distribution and geographical autonomy of individual districts and municipalities, and tried to understand the differences on the scale of the region. Wherever the federal center offers a ready-made platform solution, the regions receive an interface and design, technological logic and a mechanism for implementing government services, supplement them with their own data and rules, adjust them taking into account the specifics of regional legislation, and the picture in the regions differs.
In some of them, we see a high level of mistrust in digital solutions, an irrational fear of being “counted”, “chipped”. We have to study this. Sometimes, people who do not want to accept digital products need to be offered unusual solutions and ways of communication. We plan to make a sample and a survey using our methodology and study interregional differences in the context of digital trust.
— How is your interaction with the university’s departments and campuses organized?
— We are at least a dual-campus lab: we have employees in Moscow and St. Petersburg. We also collaborated with Professor Svetlana Golovanova from the campus HSE University in Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, we have a lot of online interaction, including holding international conferences, which does not exclude face-to-face events.
We are a highly interdisciplinary unit, since public administration involves a combination of many sciences, so we actively interact with Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, With Faculty of Social Sciences in general. We teach, recruit students, and since the current academic year, we have been working closely with Scientific and educational laboratory of political and psychological research under the leadership of Olga Gulevich. We conduct seminars with ISSEK, we cooperate with colleagues from Institute of Education HSE University. We are open to broad cooperation.
— How is interaction with other universities developing?
— We are developing partnerships with the Faculty of Public Administration of Lomonosov Moscow State University (they participate in our conferences), with the Baltic Federal University named after I. M. Kant, ITMO University, and also with St. Petersburg State University.
— Which foreign universities do you cooperate with?
— We had close contacts with the Center for Management Technologies at the University of Arizona. I hope they will be unfrozen in the near future. Cooperation with China is currently actively developing, in particular with the School of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. There is a common research program, we have applied for joint grants and hope for success with the City University of Hong Kong.
Of course, we must mention the University of Haifa. When Professor Eran Vigoda-Gadot became the academic director, we prepared and extended a comprehensive cooperation program. It continues even under the current conditions.
Finally, in Brazil, we collaborate with a highly ranked university, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), as well as with the INSPER Institute, which is more of an expert than a scientific center, as well as with universities and expert centers in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. This is important for us to get inside information from experts on how digitalization is happening in other countries.
— The large volume of data accumulated by the state creates the problem of its safety.
— Fraud also occurred in the paper, “tube” world. Much data became available even before measures were taken to combat its leaks. We must collectively — the state, business and the scientific community — try to ensure that less new data leaks. Often the weak link is people, not a low level of technological protection. Even employees of large companies and banks used primitive passwords, and sometimes pasted them near their workplaces to the delight of fraudsters and hackers. Other reasons are a passion for enrichment, a lack of understanding of digital hygiene, and inattention. Therefore, we need to work with people, and from childhood, so that they know that hackers and fraud methods are improving and there are no guarantees against hacking. We must come to terms with this and find benefits in using digital tools, including receiving personalized services from the state at the expense of their data, and in a proactive mode.
— How would you formulate the current goals of the laboratory?
— We are focused on ensuring that the development of technologies and digital transformation in the public administration system are combined with their humanitarian, scientific and ethical understanding, protection of citizens’ rights and personal information.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
As the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates the 104th anniversary of its founding this week, the Party’s signature five-year plans continue to serve as a roadmap for China’s modernization drive.
This year, China is set to complete its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and is formulating the blueprint for the next one, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s long-term strategy for national rejuvenation.
From transforming an agrarian society into the world’s second-largest economy to charting a path toward becoming a great modern socialist country in all respects by mid-century, these plans reflect the CPC’s enduring commitment to long-term strategic vision and collective prosperity.
Through this cyclical yet ever-evolving roadmap, China sets strategic goals, defines government priorities, regulates business operations, and mobilizes national resources — all in pursuit of its overarching objective of building a modern socialist nation.
The country’s first plan in 1953 marked its initial push toward industrialization with the establishment of the nation’s first major steel and automobile plants. Fast-forward to the 13th (2016-2020), and it saw the completion of the world’s largest high-speed rail network.
“Five-year plans are to China’s development what construction drawings are to building a house,” said Ran Hao, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. “It tells the government and society which ‘floor’ to focus on and which ‘road’ to build over the next five years, helping avoid a piecemeal approach.”
A framework, not a dogma
Although China’s five-year plans include quantitative targets, such as the GDP growth goal, first introduced in the seventh five-year plan, it does not mean the CPC is running a centralized planned economy.
“It’s not about the government dictating everything; rather, the plans set the direction and priorities,” Ran said.
Since 2006, targets have been divided into two types: binding targets, which reflect government commitments, such as reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP, and anticipatory targets, which represent desired outcomes like GDP growth, to be pursued primarily through market mechanisms.
In a break from tradition, the 14th Five-Year Plan did not set a quantitative target for GDP growth; instead, it described expected growth in broader terms, in part to emphasize quality over speed.
“Five-year plans are suited to the Chinese mentality and the Chinese idea of thinking long-term,” said British scholar Martin Jacques. For millennia, Confucian classics have taught that those who plan ahead are more likely to succeed.
China’s five-year plans set clear goals but give regions the leeway needed to tailor their own pathways. National plans are broad frameworks that guide local governments in creating their own action plans, explained Yin Jun, a researcher with the Peking University.
At present, the CPC is drafting proposals for the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
Observers said the upcoming plan will emphasize a future-oriented approach to global challenges, foster new quality productive forces, and strengthen the social safety net to improve public well-being.
Planning with collective efforts
Given their far-reaching impact, China’s five-year plans are developed over several years, and informed by research, expert reviews, inter-agency coordination and public consultation. For example, work on the current 14th Five-Year Plan began as early as 2018.
While drafting the five-year plan, the CPC highly values public inputs, which reflect society’s needs and help foster consensus. In 2020, for the first time, public advice was collected online, with suggestions like mutual-aid elderly care included in the final plan.
Over three months that year, seven symposiums were held with the Party’s leader meeting with entrepreneurs, experts, local officials, and representatives from the grassroots level to listen to their suggestions.
The combination of top-level planning with public participation continued this year. In May, major media platforms invited public feedback, and netizens proposed improvements such as enhancing rural express delivery infrastructure and installing elevators in older communities, among other ideas.
An old saying from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” offers insight into the success of China’s five-year plans: Triumph comes when the leaders and the people share the same goal.
Impact beyond borders
China’s five-year plans not only guide national development but also offer opportunities for global investors.
Madiyar Tukpatov, chairman of a public transport company in Astana, Kazakhstan, visited China earlier this year to research electric buses. His company began using Chinese electric buses in 2020 and plans to further integrate Chinese EV technology into Astana’s transport system.
New energy vehicles (NEVs) have been developed as a strategic industry over several five-year plans. Their production and sales each exceeded 12.8 million units in 2024, maintaining China’s position as the global leader in this sector for 10 consecutive years. Chinese NEVs can be found in over 70 countries and regions.
Benjamin Mgana, chief editor of foreign news at The Guardian newspaper in Tanzania, praised China’s approach to planning, saying it demonstrates that developing countries can create workable strategies based on their own realities, rather than copying Western models.
Inspired by China’s success, a growing number of countries have adopted their own medium- to long-term strategies. Poland, Ethiopia and Tanzania have sought support from Chinese institutions to assist in their planning process.
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
URUMQI, July 2 (Xinhua) — Famous dance troupes from eight countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, the United States and Italy have been invited to participate in an international dance festival scheduled to be held from July 20 to Aug. 5 this year in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the regional Culture and Tourism Department said at a press conference Wednesday.
During the upcoming Xinjiang International National Dance Festival, domestic and foreign performers will present 52 exciting performances to the public, covering various art forms such as dance drama, musical, ballet and modern dance, said Yu Jie, deputy director of the aforementioned department.
The performances will be shown in seven regions of Xinjiang, with Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, serving as the main venue for the event.
The Xinjiang International Folk Dance Festival, first held in 2008, will be held for the seventh time. Previous events have brought together a total of 138 dance and choreography troupes from more than 70 countries and regions, witnessing increasingly active exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, Yu Jie summed up. -0-
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
HANGZHOU, July 2 (Xinhua) — Flight C6622, a Boeing 767 cargo plane, took off from Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, bound for Tashkent early Wednesday, marking the launch of the first direct air cargo route between Zhejiang Province and Central Asia.
The route is also the second cargo airline opened by the Hangzhou Airport checkpoint administration since the beginning of this year. Flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Sundays. The travel time between Hangzhou and the capital of Uzbekistan is approximately 6 hours.
The maximum cargo capacity of the aircraft is about 50 tons. The opening of the new route provides an effective channel for direct delivery of everyday items, clothing and other goods from Zhejiang Province to the Central Asian market.
At the same time, the return flights will carry fresh fruits and other types of specific agricultural products from Uzbekistan to China.
According to the data, Zhejiang airports handle a total of 53 international cargo flights, covering three continents. From January to June 2025, the total cargo and mail handling volume of the province’s airports was about 520,000 tons, up about 2.6 percent year on year. -0-
Source: NASA
NASA astronaut Anil Menon will embark on his first mission to the International Space Station, serving as a flight engineer and Expedition 75 crew member.
Menon will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft in June 2026, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. After launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
During his expedition, Menon will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit humanity.
Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Menon graduated with the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. After completing initial astronaut candidate training, he began preparing for his first space station flight assignment.
Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and colonel in the United States Space Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University in California. Menon completed his emergency medicine and aerospace medicine residency at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
In his spare time, he still practices emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents at the University of Texas’ residency program. Menon served as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the first crewed Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building SpaceX’s medical organization to support humans on future missions. He served as a crew flight surgeon for both SpaceX flights and NASA expeditions aboard the space station.
For nearly 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and conducting critical research for the benefit of humanity and our home planet. Space station research supports the future of human spaceflight as NASA looks toward deep space missions to the Moon under the Artemis campaign and in preparation for future human missions to Mars, as well as expanding commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit and beyond.
Learn more about International Space Station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Joshua Finch / Jimi RussellHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1100joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Shaneequa VereenJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111shaneequa.y.vereen@nasa.gov
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Almaty, July 1 (Xinhua) — In an exclusive article for DKnews.kz, Chinese Consul General in Almaty Jiang Wei shared her views on the historic 2nd China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, where the leaders of the six countries opened a new page in centuries-old cooperation. She stressed that Kazakhstan continues to play a key role in deepening Central Asia’s strategic partnership with China.
As the Consul General noted, an unprecedented level of political mutual trust has been achieved between the parties. According to her, after establishing diplomatic relations, China and the Central Asian countries have built a comprehensive strategic partnership, secured it with numerous documents within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, and are promoting the concept of a community with a common destiny both at the bilateral and regional levels.
The Astana Declaration became a symbol of political unity, the diplomat said, adding that in it the parties confirmed their readiness to support each other on key issues, and the declaration itself became a powerful expression of political consensus and a signal of stability in conditions of global uncertainty.
Jiang Wei also stressed that China and Central Asian countries have achieved impressive results in practical cooperation. “The summit announced that 2025-2026 will be the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation, focusing on six priority areas, such as unimpeded trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green resource management, agricultural modernization, and facilitating people-to-people exchanges,” the consul general noted.
Speaking about the Action Plan for the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road signed by the heads of six states, she noted that this is the first time that China has signed such a document with all the countries in the border region at once.
“The summit also decided to establish a poverty alleviation center, an educational exchange and cooperation center, a desertification control center, and a platform to create favorable conditions for trade within the China-Central Asia format. These initiatives are aimed at improving the well-being of the Central Asian population, training highly qualified specialists, managing water and natural resources, and promoting high-quality economic development. All this clearly demonstrates the deep meaning of the slogan “promoting joint modernization through high-quality development,” Jiang Wei emphasized.
The Consul General said that the summit demonstrated a new level of good-neighborliness and friendship. Speaking about the Treaty on Eternal Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation signed by the six parties, a document that legally enshrines the principle of eternal friendship between peoples, she said: “This agreement has become a new milestone in the history of Chinese-Central Asian relations, opening the way for cooperation for decades to come.”
“More than 100 agreements on sister cities were signed, which forms a solid humanitarian basis for people’s diplomacy. These “bridges of friendship” contribute to the expansion of cultural and humanitarian interaction. The parties also agreed to intensify cooperation in such areas as parliamentary and inter-party ties, contacts between women and youth, the work of the media, analytical centers and public organizations,” the consul general added. “All this will become a new impetus for the dialogue of civilizations and a continuation of the thousand-year tradition of friendship between peoples,” she emphasized.
In addition, as the diplomat reported, following the summit, more than 60 bilateral agreements were signed, covering such areas as trade, investment, science and technology, customs regulation, tourism, and the media. These agreements, in her opinion, will give a powerful impetus to further deepening ties between the parties in the “golden period.” –0–
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
QINGDAO, July 1 (Xinhua) — An exhibition of sculptures by Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries titled “Light of Unity in Harmony” opened in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on Thursday.
The exhibition, which will run until July 6, features 48 sculptures created by artists from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Iran and other countries. At the same time, the exhibition also features sculptures by Chinese artists dedicated to cultural figures from India, Tajikistan and other countries.
A Xinhua reporter saw numerous city residents and tourists visiting the exhibition pavilion, who came here and admired the sculptures. Some stopped for a long time in front of the sculptures, contemplating and thinking intently, while others took pictures together in front of their favorite works.
The opening of the SCO Sculpture Exhibition, which is the first event of the SCO Summer 2025 program, marks the beginning of the SCO Summer 2025 series of events. During this period, Qingdao will host more than one hundred events in such areas as culture and art, tourism promotion, exhibitions and festivals, education and study, sports and recreation.
In early July 2024, China assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025. It was previously announced that the organization’s next summit would be held this fall in the Chinese city of Tianjin. -0-
Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) — A freight train carrying goods from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area departed from Zengcheng Railway Station in Guangzhou City, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, on Thursday, and will cross the border at Horgos Port in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Kazakhstan. The goods on board mainly include dishwashers, refrigerators and clothing, worth about 15.3 million yuan, the Guangzhou Daily reported, citing local customs information.
In recent years, the pace of urbanization in Central Asian countries has accelerated, and local consumers’ demand for various goods has increased significantly. A wide range of goods produced in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, including household appliances, clothing and footwear, are popular in the Central Asian market.
“The trains to Central Asian countries mainly carry consumer goods produced in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The return trains carry agricultural and food products from Central Asia,” said Li Siqiang, an official with the International Freight Train Management Company of Guangzhou Transport Investment Corporation.
“China-Central Asia train services are highly efficient, low-cost and flexible. The transportation time is about 10-15 days, more than twice as fast as sea transportation. It is suitable for transporting goods such as electronic products and auto parts,” said Xiao Shuailun, a manager at a local supply chain company.
Since May 2021, when China-Central Asia freight train services from Guangzhou were first launched, there have been 126 departures of such trains, carrying goods worth more than RMB 1.6 billion. -0-