On June 16, as part of the business program of the SPIEF-2022, the Valdai Discussion Club held a special session titled “Self-sufficiency and cooperation: features of the modern political economy”.
The Valdai Club has emphasised many times in its reports that globalisation, in the form in which it emerged in the 1980s, has ceased to exist. Today we are witnessing two parallel, although in many respects contradictory trends. On the one hand, the destruction of the interconnectedness of the world and the transformation of globalisation, and on the other hand, the need for cooperation even where it is politically impossible to continue it.
Previously, energy cooperation between Russia and the European countries served as a stabiliser of relations. The current crisis in relations between Russia and the West has been characterised by such a scale of contradictions that the European Union is ready to stake its own well-being for political gains. This is the main characteristic of the new reality: economic interests do not determine the actions of a state on the world stage, politics begins to take over, and political needs are realised without regard to economic consequences, no matter how grave they may be.
The Valdai Club proposes discussing the extent to which it is possible to achieve a balance between self-sufficiency and cooperation in the modern world. The poorly-remembered concept of "political economy" is again relevant. It's time to remember this discipline, because world events have once again proven that the economy does not exist outside of politics, and vice versa.
The participants of the Valdai Club session considered the following issues:
- What does self-sufficiency mean in the modern world?
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How does it combine with interaction in various formats?
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How will the transformation of globalisation end?
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On what principles will relations between the West and non-Western countries be built, taking into account the crisis of Western international institutions?
Tradionally, the Valdai session at SPIEF was opened by
Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club.
Speakers:
- Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club
- Vladimir Chizhov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union;
- Bijan Khajehpour, managing partner of Eurasian Nexus Partners (EUNEPA) consulting company (Iran);
- Wang Wen,
Executive Dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies (RDCY), Deputy Dean of the Silk Road School, Renmin University of China;
- Jacques Sapir, Director of Research, Paris School of Social Sciences (EHESS) (France);
- Rasigan Maharajh, Director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at the Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa);
- Stanislav Georgievsky, Vice President of Russian Export Center.
Moderator:
Working languages: Russian, English.
Venue: Expoforum, Congress Centre, Conference Hall D1, Petersburg Highway, 64/1, St. Petersburg