SIT actively implements the blueprint outlined in China and Laos:Working Together for a Community of Shared Future with Strategic Significance published by President Xi Jinping during his official visit to the Laos in Nov.2017.Under the “Belt and Road" Initiative, SIT is committed to cooperating with Souphanouvong University (SU) to contribute to the 21st century Maritime Silk Road and Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism.SlT-SU cooperation aims to cultivate local rail expertise with international horizon,explore the higher educational mode of railway engineering with Chinese characteristics and chart the course for future development in railway engineering education in China. From 2018 to 2019,24 SU students came to study with SlT for bachelor degree and master degree respectively. The same year witnessed opening ceremony and conclusion the agreement on establishing International Joint Lab for Railway Engineering.So far, class of 2018 have returned to Laos and worked in Laos-China Railway Co.,Ltd.In 2020, we held People-to-people Exchange Forum on the China-Laos Railway. The next year saw the Road " Lancang-Mekong Railway Connectivity Center jointly proposed by Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China Academy Of Railway Sciences Co.,Ltd.,China Railway 24thBureau Group Shanghai Railway Construction Engineering Co.Ltd.,SU and SlT. We obtained the approval of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission to construct the"Belt and Road"International Joint Lab, the first of its kind in SIT.

On Dec 3, 2021, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, attended the opening ceremony of the China-Laos Railway with Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president via video link Friday. "A few days ago, I received a joint letter from several Lao students who once majored in railway in China's Shanghai. They said they would contribute what they had learned in China to the operation and development of the China-Laos Railway, and I am very happy about this," said the Chinese president.The future of China-Laos friendship lies in the youth,and interconnection is rooted in people-to-people communication, Xi said. "China is willing to cultivate more talent for the road of China-Laos friendship.