To Participants, Organizers and Guests of the 10th Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Programme

Dear friends!

I welcome you on the occasion of the opening of the 10th Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club. This representative event, taking place in Samarkand, one of the oldest and the most beautiful cities of Uzbekistan, completes the Valdai Club’s Year of the East.

The attention that the international expert community pays to Asia is quite natural. Today this is the largest and most densely populated part of the world plays a growing role in world politics and economics. Transport, communication and energy infrastructure, high technologies and fundamental science are actively developing there.

The conference is devoted to a vital issue such as the opportunities for multilateral cooperation in Central Asia and on the entire Eurasian space in the context of global threats and challenges. You have to consider various aspects of the activities of existing regional associations, assess the current state and prospects of integration processes, as well as the potential of interstate cooperation in many areas.

Russia is ready for constructive cooperation on an equal basis with all countries of the continent. We believe that peace and prosperity in the Eurasian space are the most important condition for security and stability on a global scale.

I would like to sincerely thank the leadership of our friendly nation Uzbekistan and everyone who took part in arranging the conference and I wish its participants to have an interesting and fruitful discussion.

Vladimir Putin