The 2023 meeting of the Initiators Council of the Belt and Road Studies Network (BRSN) was convened in Beijing on Tuesday.

The council reviewed its work since the last meeting, discussed work for the next stage and elected a new vice chairperson.

Fu Hua, chairperson of the council and president of Xinhua News Agency, delivered a speech during the meeting. He noted that in more than four years since its inauguration, the BRSN has facilitated exchanges, enhanced cooperation, and played an active role in advancing Belt and Road studies and amplifying the influence of the Belt and Road.

Noting that the next year will mark the fifth anniversary of the BRSN, Fu said the council will continue to expound on the trend of the times with authoritative research, drive mutual trust and learning to a deeper level, and clear away confusion and misunderstanding.

Ten representatives of Chinese and foreign think tanks attending the meeting shared their study results in the past year.

The meeting was presided over by Ren Weidong, newly-elected vice chairperson of the council and deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua.

The BRSN, co-initiated by Xinhua and 15 other think tanks, was inaugurated in April 2019.