On September 24, the opening ceremony and the general assembly of 2015 Eurasian Economic Forum were launched at Xi'an. The Executive Vice Chancellor and XJTU honorary professor Ewan Mckendrick was invited to address on the assembly.

In his speech, Professor Ewan Mckendrick addressed that universities played a significant role in development of new Silk Road. Scholarly researches would be instrumental to understanding why Silk Road played such an important part in the ancient business and trade and cultural exchanges. He spoke highly of the leading role of XJTU in initiating the University Alliance of the New Silk Road (UANSR) and expected universities along the ancient Silk Road could engage broader collaboration through UANSR.