The last day of the 15th anniversary Annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club began with a speech by Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist party of China and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of CPC Central Committee. According to him, in a world dominated by instability and uncertainty, we should remember the lessons of the past and unite for not repeating our mistakes in the future. Russia and China could become the creators of a new global world. Their joint efforts are a guarantee that its new architecture will be better than the one before.
The next, sixth, closed session was dedicated to “Foreign Policy in Uncertain Times”. The experts touched upon the relations of war and politics in our “crumbling world”: what comes first and what follows on its heels? What we see today is the expansion of military-style thinking into politics, and a shift in balance towards military force. Therefore, it is important for Russia to restore the politics in its rights and let the diplomats speak, instead of cannons. Otherwise, the world will slide into another bipolar confrontation, which we cannot allow in the current situation.
After the sixth session, the participants of the Annual meeting held a dialog with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov.
However, the key event of the fourth day was the Plenary session, where the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin traditionally spoke. Having said a warm word about the forum, its participants and the distinguished guest turned to the most pressing issues of society and world politics, which take place on our eyes. They talked about terrorism, nuclear threat, national identity, the Middle East, the dispute around the Kuriles, sanctions, new types of weapons, global security ... Nevertheless, the main topic of the session was Russia and its changing place in the world. However, it is impossible to retell everything - so you have the opportunity to read the summary of even the transcript of the meeting on our website.
We remind you that this year’s Annual meeting takes place in Sochi and lasts for four days - from October 15 to October 18.