The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
The intellectual potential of the Valdai Discussion Club is highly regarded both in Russia and abroad. More than 9,000 scientists, researchers, policy makers and public figures from around the world have taken part in the Club’s activities.
Valdai Discussion Club’s regional conferences – the Asian, African, Central Asian, Mid-Eastern, Russian-Chinese and others – have drawn considerable attention from the international expert community. The Club holds sessions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
In 2024, the Valdai Club launched a new youth project called Valdai – New Generation with the aim to create a community of young scholars who try to find new solutions to the most pressing problems of international politics and the world economy.
Only in recent years, the Club’s conferences have been attended by many leading politicians, experts, public figures and cultural figures from Russia and other countries.
Russian participants have included Valentina Matvienko, Chairperson of the Council of the Federation; Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma; Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister; Sergei Shoigu, Defence Minister (2012–2024); Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister; Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister; Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office; Sergei Ivanov, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office (2011–2016); Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister (2008– 2018); Sergei Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow, and others.
International participants have included Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Republic of the Philippines; Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan (2004–2014); Tarja Halonen, President of Finland (2000–2012); Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran (2008–2020); Heinz Fischer, Federal President of Austria (2004–2016); Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa (1999–2008); Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic (2003- 2013); Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of Austria (2000–2007); François Fillon, Prime Minister of France (2007–2012); Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy (1996–1998, 2006–2008); Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France (2005– 2007); Fu Ying, Chairperson of the International Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (2013–2018); Volker Rühe, German Defense Minister (1992– 1998); Tsogtbaatar Damdin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia (2017–2020); Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; Krzysztof Zanussi, Polish film director and producer; Moshe Ya’alon, Minister of Defense of Israel (2013–2016); Robert Skidelsky, Member of the UK House of Lords; John Mearsheimer, professor at the University of Chicago; Jack Ma, former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, and many others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with the participants of the Valdai Discussion Club’s annual meetings every year since its founding.
In 2014 the Club moved away from the format of “telling the world about Russia” to practical work aimed at shaping the global agenda and delivering a qualified and objective assessment of global political and economic issues. One of its main objectives is to promote dialogue among the global intellectual elite in order to find solutions to overcome the crises of the international system.
The Club actively collaborates with opinion-makers across various fields such as international relations, global politics, economics, security, energy, sociology, communications, and so on.
Valdai Club Foundation
The non-profit Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2011 with a view to expanding its activities to new areas, including research and outreach work, regional and thematic programmes. In 2014, the Foundation assumed all responsibility for management of the Club’s projects.
Founders:
-
Council on Foreign and Defence Policy (CFDP)
-
Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)
-
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MGIMO University)
-
National Research University Higher School of Economics
The Board of the Foundation for Development and Support is responsible for the Foundation’s affairs. The Board is chaired by Andrey Bystritskiy, renowned Russian media manager, author of articles and publications, and media and communications researcher. Fyodor Lukyanov, well-known Russian international relations and foreign affairs expert and editor-in-chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, is Research Director of the Foundation. The Foundation’s day-to-day activities are run by Executive Director Nadezhda Lavrentieva, Honoured Economist of the Russian Federation, and former top manager at major Russian media outlets (NTV Plus, RIA Novosti, TASS Russian News Agency).