Valdai Club

On October 18, 2021, during the 18th Annual Meeting, the Valdai Discussion Club held its Award Ceremony.

On October 18–21, 2021, Sochi hosts the 18th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, titled “Global Shake-Up in the 21st Century: The Individual, Values, and the State”. Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, gave the opening speech. The topic of the first session, which took place on October 18, 2021 and was open to a wide audience, was “Substitute for a World War or a Prelude to It?”. Celso Amorim, Foreign Minister of Brazil (2003-2010); Defense Minister of Brazil (2011-2014) (Brazil); Tsogtbaatar Damdin, Member of the Parliament of Mongolia; Head of Mongolian Delegation, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (Mongolia); Thomas Graham, Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) (USA); Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE); Zhou Bo, Senior Fellow, Centre for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University; Expert, China Forum (China). The session was moderated by Andrey Sushentsov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Director, Institute of International Studies, MGIMO University.

On October 14, within the framework of the 13th Russian International Studies Association Convention (RISA), a session of the Valdai Discussion Club took place, titled “Is Transparency in the Modern Media Possible in the Era of the Rapid Development of Digital Technologies?”. Igor Ashmanov, President of Kribrum JSC; Mikhail Demin, President of the Media Communication Union (MCU); Alexey Malinin, General Director of VTsIOM Media; Alexander Nechaev, Deputy General Director, VGTRK; Peter Fedorov, Head of the International Relations Directorate of RTR, participated. The session was moderated by Andrey Bystritsky, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club; Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Communications, Media and Design, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

On October 11,  the Valdai Club, in partnership with Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), held a T20 associated online roundtable “The G20 role towards an internationally recognized ESG framework” as part of T20 Italian Presidency.The roundtable was preceded by welcome remarks from Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, and Ettore Greco, Executive Vice President of the IAI. Agostino Inguscio, Senior Expert in the G7/G20 Sherpa Office, Italy Presidency of Council of Ministers; Claude Lopez, Head of Research Department, Milken Institute; Mariano Machado, Councillor member, Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI); Akshay Mathur, Director of ORF Mumbai and Head of the Geoeconomics Studies Programme; Dmitry Pristanskov, State Secretary, Vice President and Head of GR at Nornickel; Anton Tsvetov, Deputy Director, Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; Fabrizio Botti, Senior Fellow, (IAI), took part in the discussion. The roundtable was moderated by Yaroslav Lissovolik, Programme Director, Valdai Discussion Club.

On October 8th, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion, titled “On the Threshold of the Great Reassembly of the 21st Century: Paths to the Future and Russia's Stakes”. Andrey Bezrukov, professor at MGIMO, member of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy; Pavel Luksha, founder and a director of Global Education Futures initiative, member of the ASI Expert Council; Nikolay Yutanov, Head of the “Designing the Future” Research Group, participated. The discussion was moderated by Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On September 30, a Russian-Chinese expert dialogue on democracy and economic modernisation took place. The event was co-organised by the CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies of China, as well as the All-China Association for the Study of Political Science and the All-China Association for the Study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Chinese attendees of the event included Fu Chengyu, former Chairman of the Board of the China Petrochemical Corporation, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation; Zhang Weiwei, Director of the China Institute of Fudan University, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies; Wang Shengsheng, Professor, Nankai University, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation; Li Yongquan, Chairman of the All-China Association for the Study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation; Wang Shaoguang, Professor of China University of Hong Kong, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation; Zhang Shuhua, Director of the Institute of Political Science of the Academy of Social Sciences of the PRC, Consultant of the CITIC Foundation; Xia Baolong, Deputy Chairman of the 13th National Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Council of China, Chairman of the Chinese part of the Russian-Chinese Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development; Kong Dan, Chairman of the CITIC Foundation for Development and Research; Li Shenming, President of Association for Political Sciences of China. On the Russian side, the event was attended by Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai Discussion Club; Alexander Losev, General Director of Sputnik Asset Management, which is part of the Sputnik Group; Vasily Kashin, Deputy Director of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Sergey Tsyplakov, Professor at the Department of International Relations, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Club; Yaroslav Lissovolik, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On September 27, the Valdai Club hosted a discussion on the results of the parliamentary elections in Germany, titled “Germany Without Angela Merkel: What Can Russia and the World Expect?”. Reinhard Krumm, Head, Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe (Vienna), Friedrich Ebert Foundation; Alexander Rahr, Academic Director of the German-Russian Forum; Hans-Joachim Spanger, Head of Research Department and Member of the Executive Board, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany; Artyom Sokolov, Research Fellow, Center for European Studies, IMI, MGIMO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, participated. The discussion was moderated by Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On September 23, at 15:00 Moscow time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club held an expert discussion, titled “Open Source: Benefits of the Digital Non-Aligned Movement”, during which the new Report “Digital Realpolitik: Sovereignty, Alliances and Non-Alignment in the 21st Century” was presented. Andrey Bezrukov, MGIMO Professor, President of the Technological Sovereignty Exports Association; Rashid Ismailov, President of VimpelCom PJSC, Russian candidate for the post of Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union; Mikhail Mamonov, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation (2018-2020); Maxim Parshin, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation; Oleg Shakirov, PIR Center Consultant, Expert of the Russian International Affairs Council, participated. The discussion was moderated by Andrey Sushentsov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On September 20, 2021, Tashkent hosted a conference of the Valdai Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, titled “Russia and Uzbekistan in the Face of Development and Security Challenges at a New Historical Stage of Interaction”. Session 3 was titled “International trade and integration in Central Eurasia”. Alexey Bezborodov, Managing Partner, Infra Projects LLC; Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Scientific Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Umid Abidkhadjaev, Director of the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research; Rustam Makhmudov, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations, University of World Economy and Diplomacy; Nodir Zhumaev, Deputy of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Professor, participated. The session was moderated by Sadyk Safayev, First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

On September 20, 2021, Tashkent hosted a conference of the Valdai Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, titled “Russia and Uzbekistan in the Face of Development and Security Challenges at a New Historical Stage of Interaction”. The second session was devoted to the external and internal factors of the regional security. Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Scientific Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Ismatulla Irgashev, Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan; Ivan Safranchuk, Leading Researcher, Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies, Institute for International Studies, MGIMO, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Abdusamat Khaidarov, professor of the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies; Vasily Kashin, Deputy Director at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Sanzhar Valiev, Deputy Director of Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, participated. The session was moderated by Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.