VADIM FILIMONOV, an Estonia PhD student at the Law School of Renmin University of China, is playing his own role in bringing Russia and China closer together. Helping translate business letters and legal documents, he works part time at the Chinese agricultural company Dongzhankebo.

Filimonov is one of a number of students who has secured his job through the new talent program Cirrus Project initiated by the Zhonguancun Belt and Road Industrial Promotion Association (ZBRA).

At a panel discussion at a weekend in Beijing, Filimonov said that for business ties between Chinese and Russian companies to succeed, both sides have to learn about each other’s legal systems, something strained with difficulty.

In Russia, there are very detailed laws and regulations in agriculture, Filimonov said, especially when it comes to cutting-edge agricultural technologies which Chinese companies are now engaging in.

Recognizing Filimonov’s work, Xiu Yanling, assistant general manager of Dongzhankebo, said at a panel discussion that thanks to exchange students such as Filimonov from countries along the Belt and Road, the company’s cooperation with its Russian partners has been fairly smooth so far.

Dongzhankebo has planned to develop organic agriculture in the Russian Far East and has already leased an initial 667 square kilometers of farmland in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Russia, one of the countries along the Belt and Road.

Dongzhankebo and Filimonov are merely the beginning. In the future, more students will benefit from the Cirrus Project that is meant to establish a platform that provides talent for Chinese enterprises, products and services for going global under the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as to offer foreign students opportunities to train and work in Chinese companies.

The program was launched in late March by ZBRA, an association founded in 2016 by high-tech firms and research institutes in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Technology Park. There are more than 7,000 high-tech companies in the area dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley.”

Recalling the scene at the Cirrus Project’s inaugural job fair March 23, Wang Ying, director of the Office of International Students at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), said after the panel discussion that the event was held in a “warm atmosphere” and that the 29 participating companies received over 300 resumes.

Foreign students in BIT, one of the first universities to take part in the Cirrus Project, are from 122 countries altogether, among which over 40 are along the Belt and Road. The university has seen an annual increase of 30 percent in the number of enrolled foreign students since 2014, one year after the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward by President Xi Jinping, said Wang after the panel discussion.

BIT’s strategy, Wang said, is to train foreign students who end up playing a leadership role in executing cooperation projects in their home countries.

The Cirrus Project can help foreign students not only become familiar with policy and the business environment in China, but also, more importantly, develop personal affection for the country, Wang added.

Zhang Xiaodong, president of ZBRA, has said the Cirrus Project is expected to attract more than 10,000 foreign students in the next five years. (Xinhua)