On 5 October 2021, CFAU (China Foreign Affairs University) and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University held an online meeting to discuss the cooperation between the two sides on the Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA). Among the foreign participants were Arvid Bell, Lecturer at Harvard University,Director of the Negotiation Task Force of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and member of the ACONA Executive Committee; Christopher Daase, Professor at Goethe University Frankfurt, Deputy Director of the Peace Research Institute in Frankfurt, member of the ACONA Executive committee; Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir, Professor at the University of Iceland, and member of ACONA; Christian Ostermann, Director of the History and Public Policy Academy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and member of the ACONA Executive Committee; as well as Lev Sokolshchik, Associate Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and member of ACONA. The participants from CFAU included Qu Bo, Director of the Institute of International Relations, CFAU; Ma Xinyu, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of CFAU; Gao Wanglai, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Relations, CFAU; Wang Yumeng, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of CFAU; and related teachers, staff and PhD students.

The two sides exchanged views on many aspects including the institutions’ overview, potential and prospects for cooperation, as well as coordinated support projects. They focused on the establishment background, personnel composition, training courses, application requirements and procedures of the ACONA. ACONA is a high-level professional development program organized by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, which involves historical cases studies, professional techniques, and advanced negotiation skills in the field of arms control. At the meeting, the two sides discussed and reached a preliminary agreement on the possibility of cooperation. They will further coordinate the details of cooperation, and negotiate the signing of the ACONA agreement and the memorandum of cooperation between the two universities.