The Valdai Discussion Club conference was held from September 7 to 15, 2009 and involved political scientists from 16 countries exchanging views on the development of relations between Russia and the West.
Political scientists, experts, and journalists from Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Japan, China, India, and Iran attended the conference.
Participants in the 2009 event included both core club members and those who joined the conference for the first time. The new members included individuals from the United States, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Turkey.
The conference’s discussion programme took place in Yakutsk and included four panel discussions: “Has the Cold War Truly Come to an End?”, “New Challenges: Factors of Unity or Division”, “Russia-America: “A Nuclear Reset?”, “The New European Architecture”. Meetings with regional authorities were arranged for the attendees.
In Moscow, foreign experts were able to pose questions to members of Russian government ministries, as well as figures from Gazprom, Rosneft, and TNK-BP.
Meetings with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were arranged for the conference attendees as well.
