Nearly 70 leaders of international and regional organizations as well as heads of states and governments, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gathered at the opening ceremony. Vice Chairman of China National People's Congress Ji Bingxuan attended the forum as China’s national representative. Dr. Chen Zhimin, Vice President of Fudan University, invited by the forum to act as the Steering Committee of the forum, attended the opening ceremony. Dr. Zhang Ji, Director of International Cultural Exchange Institute and Vice Director of Institute of French Studies from Fudan University also attended the forum upon invitation. Project “Future Energy in Central Asia”, a collaboration between Fudan University and Nazarbayev University from Kazakhstan selected to the 100 Innovative Solutions for Global Governance, was proudly exhibited at the forum.
On the day of the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman Ji Bingxuan came to Fudan’s project exhibit booth. He asked questions about the project with great interest. Student Xiang Chen introduced her team’s work to Mr. Ji who later commended her for her effort and achievement on the project.
The original impetus of Paris Peace Forum came from French President Emmanuel Macron to gather programs, views and initiatives, better cooperate on major global issues and makeglobalization more just and fair through an effective multilateral annual high-level international forum. 16 personalities with an international reputation, coming from all continents were invited to comprise the Steering Committee to provide strategy advice to the forum.
One of the highlights of the forum was the presentation of 119 selected global governance projects exhibited at booths and on display boards, sparking heated discussions between project teams and an audience comprised of elites from political, business and academic circles. More than 900 projects from 116 countries applied for the exhibition and finally 119 projects from 42 countries and 10 international organization stood out from the crowd. Project “Future Energy in Central Asia” submitted by students from Fudan University and Nazarbayev University from Kazakhstan was one of the four selected projects from China and the only project coming from Asian universities. With a focus on solving energy problems troubling Central Asia, Project “Future Energy in Central Asia” proposed innovative solutions for increasing solar energy efficiency. The project was initially proposed by a team led by Peng Bo, a postgraduate student from the School of Information Science and Technology and Xiang Chen, a postgraduate student from the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at the 11th Youth Innovation Competition on Global Governance (YICGG-2017) where it was awarded the Most Valuable Project.
The booth of Project “Future Energy in Central Asia” attracted visitors including former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and attention from the World Bank, the European Parliament, Google, Facebook among other organizations. Guests and attendees at the forum exchanged views with the project team members regarding the application and implementation of the project.
