Rajat Nag, the former Managing Director General of Asian Development Bank was the first guest to speak on this meeting. He pointed out that in the new century, Asia faces rapid development, challenges as well as opportunities; how to promote development, meet challenges and seize opportunities will become the key to the development of the BRICS countries. Other guests also shared valuable information as well as experiences: Sheigo Katsu, President of Nazarbayev University and Former Vice President of the World Bank introduced the modernization and reform of Kazakhstan's system; Liudmila Popova, the representative of National Saint Petersburg University from Russia introduced the trade policy of contemporary Russia; Professor He Liping from BNU Business School Finance Department gave a general introduction on the internationalization process of Chinese Currency. The following section is for discussion and questions, student representatives were highly active in asking questions, each receiving detailed and helpful answers.

The second half of the meeting is hosted by Mr. Rajat Nag. The first speaker of the second half is Anhony Pellegrini, who is the former Director of Transportation, Water Resources and Urban Construction Department of the World Bank. He analyzed and interpreted the challenges of country and city infrastructure. Other speakers include BNU Business School Prof. Li Shi, who introduced the new changes in China’s income distribution, also discussing this topic with other participants. Leading Asian economist Manu Bhaskaran was the next to speak. He is also the Founding Director, Chief Executive Officer of the Centennial Group. He gave a lively speech on the development and transformation of developing countries. Prof. Rupa Basu from the University of Delhi then gave a speech on the sustainable development of India. The meeting ended as participants exchanged different opinions and views, also interacting with BNU Business School teacher and student representatives.

The first guest to speak on the meeting was Harinder Kohli, the Founding Director and Chief Executive of Emerging Markets Forum as well as Founding Director, President, and CEO of Centennial Group. He introduced his view on the rise of emerging markets. Zhang Yu, the Renmin University Economics School Dean then introduced China’s “new normal” economic development. Nikolay Filinov-Chernyshev, the Russian National Research University—Higher School of Economics Business Administration School Dean focused his speech on the development of Russian business education. The last speaker was Prof. Ravinder Kaur from the Indian Institute of Technology. He expressed his opinion on topics such as social economic transformation and higher education transformation. In the following Q&A section, attending students were also active in asking questions, which were answered in detail by the participating guests.

The second half of the meeting was hosted by Dean Nikolay Filinov-Chernyshev from the Russian National Research University. The first speaker was Carlos Augusto Candeo Fontanini, Business School Dean of the Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil. He introduced his research on the internationalization of higher education. Jatinder Bir Singh, Delhi University Business School Dean compared India’s higher education with other BRICS universities, including aspects such as education scale and education quality, thus raising the issue of education diversity among BRICS countries. Maxim A. Ponomarev, the Plekhanov Russian Economic University Management School Dean introduced the economic cooperation and business talent cultivation mode of BRICS countries, also discussing this topic with attending guests. BNU Business School Dean Lai Desheng then summarized the meeting; focusing on “Reform and Innovation”, he highlighted the theme of this economics sub-forum – “Economic Development and Economic Transition”.

BRICS Universities’ Presidential Forum – Economics Sub-Forum successfully ended after the heated Q&A and discussion section. This meeting lasted three hours in total. Everyone was affected by the active atmosphere, while participants discussed relevant topics on “Economic Development and Economic Transition” in detail. BNU Business School students also showed their intellectual curiosity and innovation, demonstrating the school spirt of “Promoting Business and Humanism to Serve the Nation and the World”. It is believed that this forum will add new academic vitality to BNU Business School, also contributing to the cooperation and development of BRICS countries.