Valdai Club

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Kazakhstan experienced a similar radical transformation of their respective social systems. Both countries had managed to re-establish general stability by the end of the 1990s and subsequently created the conditions for economic growth and improving the quality of life.

Russia and the Great Steppe of Kazakhstan emerge as the site of the “assembly” of the new world. The economic heart of the new world definitely beats in China and India. But the veins through which the blood flows are located in the steppe belt.

One of the most important preconditions for the "peaceful rise" of China during the period of reforms (since 1978) was a series of agreements reached by its leaders with the leadership of the United States in the 1970s: the Shanghai Communiqué (February 1972), as well as agreements signed during Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States in early 1979. They envisaged a qualitatively new situation in Eastern Eurasia.

The latest multilateral summit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which took place in Beijing in late April, was a significant event not only for continental but global politics as well. In his speech, President Putin clearly emphasized Russia's commitment to further strengthening pan-Eurasian cooperation and the levels of association already achieved between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative.

A collision of interests is always part of any integration process, growing more dramatic and multidimensional the more comprehensive an integration endeavour becomes. This is particularly clear from the record of the most advanced integration project in history, the European Union, which saw periods of ‘eurosclerosis’, direct sabotage by member countries (e.g. a six-month boycott of the European Commission in 1965–1966 by France), and the failures of the constitutional referendum in the Netherlands and France in May 2005. The main fork in the road for Eurasian integration today is the lack of convenient ‘integration scales’: a deeper integration implies more heated conflicts, and it becomes more difficult to gauge the effects of integration decision-making. However, the main advantage of the existing situation is that it is natural.

Beijing’s activity in world affairs has been steadily increasing since the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009. There is no doubt that China, which has substantially increased its economic and financial strength, has set off on a path of sustainable growth to play a key role in global economic governance; it is improving its leadership potential on the world stage and gradually building a China-centric system of international rules, norms and institutions.

On April 30, the heads of government of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) convened in Yerevan for a regular meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council (EMPS). There, they achieved the resolution of important issues concerning the future development of the Union, most notably, the elimination of various barriers within the Union’s internal market.