In its role as rotating president, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) held the opening ceremony and rector's forum of the Association of Sino-Russian Technical Universities (ASRTU) annual meeting online on Jun 1.

In his congratulatory letter, XJTU President Wang Shuguo expressed gratitude for the support from the following organizations: the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at China's Ministry of Education, the Department of International Cooperation at Russia's Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Russian Federation and the China Scholarship Council.

Wang said he believes that universities, including members of the alliance, need to work together and move forward side by side to jointly create a bright future for higher education in the new era.

During the rector's forum, leaders and representatives of 29 universities from China and Russia discussed the topic of "Universities, Cities, Developments".

The ASRTU, founded in 2011, is a non-government organization composed of prestigious engineering universities from China and Russia and a communicative platform under Sino-Russian Committee of Humanistic Cooperation. It has set up a fresh model for Chinese universities to conduct cooperation and exchanges with their Russian counterparts.

The opening ceremony was presided by XJTU Vice-President Xi Guang.