From 26 – 28 of May, LIIA participated in Shanghai Forum 2018. During these days, in a framework of New Silk Road programme LIIA signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Institute of European Studies and Ningbo Maritime Silk Road Institute.

Shanghai Forum’s Sub-forum “The Belt and Road Initiative in Europe - Synergies and Challenges”, organized by LIIA and Fudan, and chaired by Prof. Andris Sprūds, took a place on May 27th. The sub-forum gathered an array of academics representing leading research institutes and universities from China, Latvia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Serbia.

The discussion touched upon the dynamic of the EU-China relationship under the Belt and Road developments, the role of Central Asia and Russia, the perceptions, contributions and limitations of the "16+1" cooperation, as well as other aspects of China's transcontinental linkage, attracting fellow academics, media, students and general public.

During the Forum, LIIA held a meeting with its partners at the Fudan Development Institute, discussing further cooperation in research, exchanges and co-organization of think tank events, as well as introducing the LIIA New Silk Road programme.