For a second time in a row, the Valdai Club experts take part in the annual Global Town Hall, organized by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia. Global Town Hall is an open virtual platform that provides a common space to connect world leaders, policymakers, and leading minds with global citizens in full-day 15-hour world-class discussions on current issues that matter.
This year’s Global Town Hall undertakes the theme, “Managing Competition, Conflict, and Cooperation in a Pandemic World,” with the Valdai Club experts taking part in two sessions.
“The Future of Afghanistan and Its Impact on Regional Security” session, starting at 7:45 Moscow time (GMT+3), discusses the future of Afghanistan under Taliban rule and its impact on the regional order and security. It will feature Dr. Lana Ravandi-Fadai, Associate Professor of the Contemporary East in the Department of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities. She will be taking part in the session along with high-profile experts from China, India, Iran, and Afghanistan itself.
Another session, featuring Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Club, is titled “The Geopolitics of Competition and Alignments: How Far will the Strategic Rivalries Go and What are the Chances for Rapprochement?” and will start at 9:10 Moscow time (GMT+3). It will discuss key geopolitical trends and the factors that drive these trends, evaluate how the strategic rivalries among the major powers are playing out, the role of middle powers, and assess geo-economic developments in the last two years.
Other speakers on the panel are Prof. Stephen Smith, Minister of Defense (2010-2013), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-2010) of Australia; Prof. Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at National University of Singapore; and Major General (Ret.) Dr. Yao Yunzhu, Senior Advisor at China Association of Military Sciences, Academic Committee Member at Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University.
To watch the sessions, you need to get а free streaming pass at GTH2021.COM.