Valdai Club

The annual Asian conference of the Valdai Club “Looking ahead: Russia and Asia in the next 20 years” will be held in Seoul on November 27-28. During the conference, organized in partnership with the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, experts will discuss the most critical issues of regional security, first of all, the North Korean nuclear and missile programme, as well as prospects of economic and political development.

November 27, Monday

09:30 – 10:00 Registration

10:00 – 10:30 Opening of the conference

Opening remarks:

• HYUN Jung Taik, President, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy
• BYSTRITSKIY Andrey, Chairman of the Board, Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club
• SONG Young-gil, Chairperson, The Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation 
• MORGULOV Igor, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation

Moderator: 

• LEE Jae-Young, Vice President, Department of Europe, Americas and Eurasia, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

10:30 – 12-00 Session 1. Asia in 2037: A region of peace or a region of war?

Asia is one of the economically prosperous regions and, at the same time, the region of great security concern. Gradually, but steadily, the Chinese-American contradictions are intensifying, a number of maritime territorial disputes have emerged while North Korea's nuclear program has long been a big problem for the entire international community. The ability of the region to overcome differences on security issues will largely determine whether it remains prosperous in the future.

• MOON Heungho, Director, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Hanyang University
• BAEK Jun-kee, President, Korea Consensus Institute (KCI)
• TOLORAYA Georgy, Executive Director of the Russian National Committee on BRICS Research; Director of the Center for Asian Strategy at the Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences 
• LANKOV Andrei, Professor, Kookmin University; Director, Korea Risk Group
• YAMAZOE Hiroshi, Senior Research Fellow, Regional Studies Department, National institute for Defence Studies, Japan
• SUMSKY Viktor, Director of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO University
  

Moderator:

• LUZYANIN Sergei, Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Institute’s Center for Strategic Issues of Northeast Asia

12:30 – 13:30 Press conference

15:00 – 16:30 Session 2. What is Asia's future place in the world economy?

From the "Asia for the world" model and the role of the "world’s workshop", the region is increasingly shifting to the "Asia for Asia" model. Production, as well as consumption, become increasingly localized. Such advanced Asian nations as China, Japan, South Korea and some ASEAN countries are enhancing their domestic consumption and the middle class. These tectonic shifts will certainly play a role in what will be Asia's place in the global economy.

• VOLIN Alexei, Deputy Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation
• HAN Hongyul, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Hanyang University 
• PEDROSA Eduardo, Secretary General, Pacific Economic Cooperation Council
• XIANG Lanxin, Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva; Director, Centre of One Belt and One Road Studies

Moderator: 

• LEE Il Houng, Member of Monetary Policy Board, The Bank of Korea; Former President of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

November 28, Tuesday

10:00 – 10:30 Registration

10:30 – 12:00 Session 3. Asian energy markets over a 20-year period and regional cooperation prospects

Most Asian countries are developed industrial economies that consume large volumes of energy. External suppliers are interested in expanding their presence in Asian markets, and Russia is no exception. The task of this session is to analyze what is the potential for the evolution of the energy market in Asia, what types of energy resources have the greatest prospects there and what risks can face the development of this market.

• LEE Jae-Seung, Professor, Associate Dean of GSIS, Korea University
• KASHIN Vasily, Senior research fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University - Higher School of Economics; Leading research fellow at the Institute of the Russian Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences 
• UNNIKRISHNAN Nandan, Vice President and Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi 
• ABIRU Taisuke, Senior Representative, Representative Office in Moscow, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)

Moderator:

• BORDACHEV Timofey, Programme Director, Valdai Club Foundation;  Director, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Director of Studies, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

12:30 – 14:00  Session 4. The Far East as Russia’s gateway to Asia: What has been achieved and what is yet to be done?

Russia's pivot to the East has already happened, and the Far Eastern region became Russia's gateway to Asia. This region attracts investments from Asian countries and simultaneously develops an export focus on Asian markets. At the same time, Russia also has a high interest in removing non-tariff barriers in the Asian markets, primarily in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean markets. Much has already been done in terms of pivoting Russia to the East, but much remains to be done, which will become the subject of this session.

• BORDACHEV Timofey, Programme Director, Valdai Club Foundation;  Director, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Director of Studies, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy
• KIM Seok-Hwan, Professor, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; President, Korea Institute for Eurasian Studies 
• LARIN Victor, Director, Institute of history, archaeology and ethnography of the peoples of the far-east, far- eastern branch of the RAS (IHAE FEBRAS)
• FENG Shaolei, Director of Centre for Co-development with Neighboring Countries, Director of Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University

Moderator:

• LEE Jae-Young, Vice President, Department of Europe, Americas and Eurasia, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy