Over 40 Foreign Guests from 18 Countries to Attend Primakov Readings Forum in Moscow
More than 40 foreign guests from 18 countries will arrive at the 10th International Primakov Readings Forum to discuss external challenges facing Russia, which will be the theme of the anniversary event. This was announced by Alexander Dynkin, Deputy Chairman of the Forum’s Organizing Committee and President of IMEMO, at a press conference at TASS.
“The 10th Anniversary Primakov Readings is dedicated to the theme ‘Russia in the Global Context’. What is the reason for this choice? The West miscalculated its ability to isolate our economy. Sanctions against Russia only strengthen ties between countries of the Global South, BRICS, SCO, and the EAEU. All this hinders the trajectory of fragmentation of the global economy. There is a feeling that experts in the West understand Russian realities less and less. Therefore, we decided to focus this year on the theme of Russia in the world,” noted Alexander Dynkin.
IMEMO President, Academician Alexander Dynkin added that this year’s Forum will be dedicated to the memory of Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov, whose 95th birthday will be celebrated this autumn. In light of this event, the main program of the conference will open with a session devoted to Primakov’s scientific and political legacy.
Alexander Dynkin also emphasized that more than 1,000 representatives from the Russian and foreign expert communities, government agencies, political and business circles are expected to participate in the event. Discussions at the Anniversary Forum will focus on the role of BRICS in shaping a new global economic architecture, vectors of interaction between the countries of Greater Eurasia, the polycentric nature of the emerging world order in the military-strategic sphere, the impact of modern crises on the future contours of European security, the opportunities for the Russian economy, and the role of culture in international relations.
Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, underscored the significance of the Forum in the context of major changes in the world order.
“Today, we are experiencing a major era rift, similar to the end of the Cold War. However, while earlier we were emerging from that era with the confidence that everything would change for the better without much effort and agreement on the part of former rivals, now the situation is different. The level of uncertainty has significantly increased. That is why it is so important, on such authoritative platforms as the Primakov Readings, to develop a shared vision of future institutions and contours of unified and indivisible security, Eurasian security, which should be beneficial and effective for all its participants,” stated Konstantin Kosachev.
Special attention at the Forum will be paid to the issues of arms control in the context of the formation of a polycentric world. The moderator of this session will be Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
“The Primakov Readings set the highest bar for other discussion platforms, and not just in Russia. It is a national treasure of Russia, and the importance of this platform for active dialogue among participants from a wide range of countries cannot be underestimated,” emphasized Sergey Ryabkov.
“Over the past sixty years, following the Cuban Missile Crisis, two tracks have served as the main methods for preventing a third world war. These are the peaceful settlement of international conflicts and arms control, especially nuclear arms, through agreements on their limitation and reduction. Today, we are going through a very difficult period when both two tracks have largely reached an impasse. The main task facing Russian foreign policy, as well as global politics, of which Russia is a part and a driver, is how to transit from the old world to the new one while preserving the tested ways of peaceful conflict resolution, arms control and preventing a third world war” said Alexey Arbatov, Head of the Center for International Security of IMEMO.
In the context of the formation of a new world order, the experts of the Forum will also focus on the theme of Greater Eurasia as a territory of opportunities.
“The topic of Eurasian integration, cooperation, and interaction within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), in the post-Soviet space, has now acquired particular significance. In the face of unjustified blatant pressure and the sanctions policy imposed by the collective West against the CIS countries, the issue of joint countering Western sanctions has become even more relevant. The CIS countries and the countries of the Eurasian region must stand together, preserve relations of friendship and good-neighborliness. This is an implementation of the legacy bequeathed to us by Yevgeny Primakov,” noted Sergey Lebedev, Secretary-General of the CIS.
The conference will also address the issues of the Ukrainian crisis and the future of Eurasian security.
“As for the Ukrainian crisis, it is in an acute phase. We all know that high-intensity combat operations are taking place in the center of Europe. The settlement of this crisis will be one of the building blocks of a new global security architecture foundation. We are right in the midst of a system-forming event that will influence the future of the world order, with its echoes felt for decades to come. Therefore, starting from Ukraine, we must take a step towards the formation of a multilateral dialogue on security on the Eurasian continent. And this combination of two major pillars – the development of regional arms control and international political detente developing synchronously, is what should form the basis for a multilateral security system,” shared his opinion Konstantin Bogdanov, Senior Researcher at the Center for International Security of IMEMO.
The 10th International Primakov Readings Expert Forum will be held on June 25-26 in Moscow at the World Trade Center venue. As a tradition, Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, will deliver a keynote speech. The Forum will bring together guests from 18 countries, including: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Germany, Georgia, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, China, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, the USA, Uzbekistan, and Switzerland.
Their participation in the Primakov Readings has been confirmed by the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Bangladesh, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, as well as Advisers and representatives from the Embassies of Argentina, France, Belarus, South Africa, Serbia and Cuba.