On October 19, the fifth China-Russia Energy Business Forum opened at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony. He read President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter and delivered a speech. Ding Xuexiang stated that under the strategic guidance of the two Heads of state, China-Russia energy cooperation has maintained a positive and developing trend. As globally significant energy producers and consumers, China and Russia have clear complementary advantages and enormous cooperative potential. Both sides need to effectively implement the important consensus reached by the two Heads of state, cultivate an even closer energy partnership, and achieve more fruitful results in China-Russia energy cooperation, making new contributions to global energy security and sustainable development.

The executive secretary for the Russia Federation's commission on the development strategy of the fuel and energy complex and environmental safety, as well as the Chairman of the Russian state oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, read a congratulatory letter from Russian President Putin and delivered a speech. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Alexander Novak, also addressed the forum.

President Ge Shirong, also Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician, participated in the forum and delivered a keynote speech titled "Current Status and Development Path of Underground Coal Gasification Technology". Ge Shirong pointed out that China's underground coal gasification technology has a development history of over 40 years, conducting more than 20 semi-industrial and industrial experiments. Through the integration of industry, academia, and research, significant breakthroughs have been achieved in core technology, leading to the establishment of an underground coal gasification technology system. With a solid foundation and good cooperation prospects in underground coal gasification technology, Ge Shirong proposed the establishment of a China-Russia Underground Coal Gasification Research Center. This center would facilitate regular academic exchanges, sharing of engineering experiences, and the development of intelligent underground coal gasification technology and equipment. The initiative aims to advance deep coal underground gasification and carbon sequestration experiments and demonstrations, providing technical reserves to ensure China's energy security.

The theme of this forum is "Building a Closer China-Russia Energy Cooperation Partnership to Support Global Energy Security and Energy Transition". Over 400 representatives from relevant departments, energy enterprises, financial institutions, research institutions, and industry associations from both China and Russia participated in the forum. Representatives from our university's Institute of Science and Technology Research and School of Energy and Mining also attended the forum.