On November 13, a memorandum of cooperation between the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club and the Emirates Policy Center was signed on the margins of the 9th Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate (ADSD). Andrey Bystritskiy, the Valdai Club Chairman, represented the Valdai Discussion Club and Ebtesam Al Ketbi, President of the Emirates Policy Center, represented the EPC.
The memorandum aims at creating conditions for building efficient and trust-based dialogue between academic and expert communities as well as civic organisations of Russia, the UAE, and other Gulf states. The Valdai Club and EPC are planning to develop cooperation in the areas of national, regional and global affairs by holding joint events, exchange of visits of members of the intellectual elites, launching bilateral projects, preparation and exchange of research papers.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. Since then it has won an international repute as a venue for leading world experts to engage with Russian scholars, politicians and government officials. Today the Club’s activities focus mainly on research of global political and economic processes. More than 1,000 experts from 85 countries have taken part in the Club’s activities since its inception.
The Emirates Policy Center (EPC) is an independent think tank based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The EPC was established in September 2013 during the turmoil of the “Arab Spring” to study internal and external threats to nation-states in the Gulf region and the broader Arab world. The EPC aims to determine and forecast the impacts of geopolitical developments and changes in the global balance of power on the UAE and the region.
