On June 18, as part of the business programme of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum-2025, the Valdai Club hosted a session titled “Sustainability in a World of Uncertainty: Universal Security Through Stronger States”. Opening the session, Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai Club Foundation, invited the participants to discuss the issue of security in a state context.
Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Club Foundation and moderator of the session, added that the Valdai Club has been studying the ongoing transformation of the world for several years now. He noted that the process of disintegration of the previous global system of relations is currently moving to a new level, particularly in the Middle East. “We have probably never seen such a degree of openness of power,” he explained. “This makes us think about how states can and will survive in such a world.” According to Lukyanov, the usual approach, based on classical theories of international relations, now works much worse than before: the line between external circumstances and internal ones has disappeared and, perhaps, internal processes have begun to influence external ones more than external ones influence internal ones.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, Founder of the Geopolitical Cartographer Research Foundation and former President of Sri Lanka (2022-2024), speaking about the relations between the state and society as a factor of stability of the state, pointed out that it must perform clearly defined functions and one of them is to maintain the balance of power in the country. The government is obliged to respond to the inevitable challenges it encounters and find a common language with the legislature and society, without succumbing to external influence, including in matters of values - that is, to stand guard over the interests of its people. Moving on to the situation in the Middle East, he emphasised that the confrontation between Israel and Iran goes beyond the regional framework and external forces are involved in the conflict, doing the "dirty work" with others' hands. He sees in what is happening a reason to unite states and revise international systems, so that they better ensure both the security and stability of the world, as well as human rights.
Roman Chekushov, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, reviewed issues related to Russia's current technological policy. "Since 2014, we have begun to understand that the time of equal cross-border access to technologies has passed - or has not yet come," he noted, emphasising that the West has been trying to show Russia all the time that it cannot cope without Western technology and imports. Over the last three years, the situation has noticeably worsened and Russia has had to include instruments of additional support for industry. At the same time, the situation opens up a number of opportunities. The departure of foreign businesses in many cases should be correctly viewed as vacant niches for Russian companies, he is sure. Chekushov added that in addition to technological sovereignty, which implies meeting the needs of the domestic market, the country faces the task of achieving technological leadership in certain areas, which means producing products that conquer foreign markets. Against this backdrop, there is a need to move to the next level of partnership between the state and business, including in matters of protecting the domestic market.
Binod K. Chaudhary, Chairman of the Chaudhary Group, CG Corp Global, Member of Parliament, Nepal, said that from a security perspective, it is necessary to promote the digital sovereignty agenda around the world. He pointed out the importance of government measures for economic diversification. According to him, government policy will not hinder private business - it will always make its way, “like water”, and innovations will in any case go where there are markets. Crises and conflicts do not stop the private sector from entering into agreements and organising partnerships, Chaudhary is convinced. Politicians set the direction and change the world, but business always adapts to this, he concluded.
Feng Wei, Vice-Chairman of the China Institute of Innovation and Development Strategy, called the present time an unprecedented era of change. He believes that against this background, the “question of the century” is how to respond to these challenges and ensure universal security. He defined China’s approach to security and development issues as holistic, covering not only the traditional aspects of ensuring the security of citizens and the territorial integrity of the state, but also security in the environment, economy, space, “big data”, and so on. In fact, we are talking about ensuring security, internal and external, through national development and the creation of a security contour that covers the entire state system. In the international sphere, this means respecting the security of each country, understanding national characteristics and national governance systems, and fostering a dialogue on security, taking into account the interests of other countries.
Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President of the CyberPeace Foundation, briefly outlined the situation in the field of cybersecurity. “Now the digital has no boundaries. We have a unified cyberspace, so we are moving towards a new understanding of where interaction and sometimes even struggle will take place,” he noted. A new era of cyber interaction is beginning thanks to the development of artificial intelligence. The question is how to define digital sovereignty against this background, if the digital infrastructure crosses all physical borders. This state of affairs requires international cooperation, including in matters of the digital sphere regulation. It is necessary to develop not only sovereignty, but also shared responsibility, he believes.
Roger Köppel, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, also emphasised
the importance of international cooperation. The era of a unipolar world has come to an end. America is not so strong as it used to be and is being forced to retreat in many areas. The role of large states such as Russia, China and India, as well as some small countries, is growing. This has led many people –even in the most difficult moments – to realise the need to cooperate. Newtechnologies and innovations are also pushing towards this conclusion. “We need to listen to each other, we need to learn from each other and interact,” Köppel said. “The general trend towards interaction will continue.”
