On September 3, the Second Belt and Road Forum on People-to-People Connectivity, organized by the Western Returned Scholars Association, was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Yang Zhen, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC and President of the Western Returned Scholars Association, Xin Changxing, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Zhang Yizhen, Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, was also present at the opening ceremony. Zhou Hongbo, Member of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee, delivered the welcome address. Wang Yijun, Deputy Director of the Promotion Center for Belt and Road Construction under the National Development and Reform Commission, also delivered a speech. Li Min, Secretary-General of the Western Returned Scholars Association, presided over the opening ceremony. Tan Zhemin, Vice President of the Western Returned Scholars Association, President of the Jiangsu Western Returned Scholars Association, President of Nanjing University, and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, attended the event.

On behalf of the Jiangsu Western Returned Scholars Association, Tan Zhemin extended a warm welcome to all guests from various countries. He highlighted Jiangsu as a province strong in education and talent, with a deep tradition of serving the country through studies abroad. The Jiangsu Western Returned Scholars Association gathers a significant number of overseas-educated talents who have both a passion for serving the nation and an international perspective, consistently acting as active practitioners and promoters of people-to-people connectivity. Using this forum as an opportunity, the association will continue leveraging the advantages of overseas-educated talents to lay a stronger public foundation for high-quality Belt and Road development. He invited all sectors of society to use the forum as a platform to personally experience Jiangsu's historical depth and developmental energy, strengthen Silk Road friendships, and build consensus for cooperation.

This forum was themed "Silk Road Heart Bridges, Consensus in Nanjing—Connecting Hearts to Build a Beautiful Home for the Belt and Road." The keynote session was chaired by Chen Yunsong, Deputy Chair of NJU CPC Counicl.

The forum also featured three parallel sessions on "Mutual Learning among Civilizations and Cultural Integration—Contemporary Inheritance of Silk Road Cultural Ties," "Well-Being of the People and Industrial Co-Development—The Human Element of 'Small yet Beautiful' Projects," and "Youth Collaboration and Future Creation—Friendship Relay of the Silk Road New Generation." Guo Shuyong, Dean and Professor at NJU School of International Studies; Li Zhifan, an Iranian doctoral student of the Class of 2023; and Zhang Tianyi, a Pakistani doctoral student of the Class of 2025, delivered speeches during the parallel sessions.