An art talent development program between China and Russia was launched on Monday to cultivate more art talents with digital creativity.

The program, jointly launched by Beijing-based Perfect World Education Investment Co and Russia's Atlant Limited Liability Company, a company which focuses on R&D and operation of art and language courses, as well as five Russian institutes, aims to jointly establish a Sino-Russian Art Institute to cultivate more talents and increase cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The Russian institutes are Siberian State Institute of Arts, Repin Academic Institute of Fine Arts, The Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Industrial and Applied Arts, and the Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design and Arts.

The new art institute will include different centers on preparation and continuing education courses, Chinese art research and Chinese cultural education, aiming to make it a flagship program for improving art and cultural exchanges and youth development between China and Russia.

Robert Xiao, CEO of Perfect World Co, said launching the Art Talent Development Program in partnership with Atlant and so many renowned Russian art academies is an exploration and practice of the international industry-education integration under the Belt and Road Initiative.

With the rapid development of China's digital cultural and creative industry in recent years, lack of excellent talents in the sector becomes an important issue, he said.

There are rich resources in talent development that can be harnessed for China and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

Rashid Alimov, former secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said the initiative is like a river into which many streams of water converge and the cooperation of Perfect World and Russian partners is also part of the river.

In Russia, there are many excellent people, just like in China. These people create more excellent talents, which is a continuous circular loop. The program as well as Belt and Road Initiative, will make the world better by discovering and cultivating talented people in the future, he said.