Think Tank
Valdai Club to Discuss Russia-India Relations During India’s G20 Presidency
Valdai Club Conference Hall, Tsvetnoy Boulevard 16/1, Moscow, Russia
List of speakers

On April 7, at 15:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion titled “The Russian-Indian Relations During India’s G20 Presidency” in partnership with leading Indian think tanks.

Russia and India are traditionally bound by strong friendly relations. Moscow remains one of New Delhi’s key partners. India actively cooperates with Russia in such forums as BRICS, SCO, RIC, as well as within the G20. Despite Western sanctions, since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict India has significantly increased its purchases of Russian oil, agricultural products and medical equipment. At the end of 2022, the trade turnover between Russia and India amounted to more than $31 billion.

This year, India took the chair of the G20. The government of India came up with a large-scale programme. The main tasks of the Indian Presidency include the fight against inequality in the world, both in the traditional socio-economic sense — between the global North and South — and the inequality in new areas that have gained particular importance in the 21st century — climate and digital domain. Reaching equality is an extremely ambitious task that the world community has been unable to achieve for many decades. However, the agenda of the Indian G20 Presidency pays special attention not only to practical, but also to value-spiritual issues of the transformation of humanity. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a fundamental change in the human mindset a key condition for solving the problem of inequality.

To what extent does the Indian Presidency agenda correspond to the Russian vision of the G20 and its role in world politics? How can Russia help achieve the main goals of the Indian Presidency? How to assess the evolution of relations between Russia and India in the current geopolitical situation? Participants in the expert discussion will answer these and other questions.

Speakers:

  • Viktoria Panova, Russia’s Sherpa in W20 and Vice-Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics;

  • Gleb Makarevich, Deputy Head of the Center for the Indian Ocean Region, IMEMO RAS;

  • Raj Kumar Sharma, Visiting Fellow, United Service Institution of India and Post Doc Fellow, Delhi School of Transnational Affairs, University of Delhi (India);

  • Nandan Unnikrishnan, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation (India);

  • Nivedita Das Kundu, Senior Fellow at the York University, Academic Director of Liaison College (India);

  • Marat Berdyev, Ambassador-at-Large, Russian Foreign Ministry, Sous-Sherpa of Russia in the G20.

Moderator:

Working languages: Russian, English.

Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website or call +79269307763.

A link to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the websiteTwitterVKontakteTelegram and Zen.