This year, the Valdai Discussion Club will take part in the Eastern Economic Forum for the fourth time. On September 4, at 10:00 the Club will hold a session titled “The Asian Mirror: The Pivot East Through the Eyes of Our Asian Partners”.

       Logically and thematically, the session is a continuation of a series of events dedicated to the key focus of the Club’s work in 2019 – Russian politics in the East. Our interest in the topic is due to the strengthening of Russia’s position in the East, the ambition of the country’s leaders to enhance the Eastern aspect of foreign policy, and the geopolitical events in the region, which have had an effect on the entire world.

       The Valdai session’s main goal won’t be to discuss plans for the development of the Far East and its integration in the Asia-Pacific Region, but rather the things that have already been achieved. Russia’s turn to the East is gaining momentum. The time has come to summarise its interim results and to hear the position of our Asian partners on how successful Russian policy has been, from their point of view.

       The session will feature prominent experts and public opinion leaders from Russia and several Asian countries. Together, they will answer: how do they regard the results of Russia’s turn to the East? What has it managed to do? What role does Asia want Russia to play?

       Speakers:

       Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District

       To Anh Dung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam

       Fan Weiguo, Chief of Eurasian Bureau of Xinhua News Agency

       Lee Jae-Young, President, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)

       Michael Tay, Founder and Director of the Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise, Ambassador of Singapore to Russia (2002-2008); Founder of the Russia-Singapore Business Forum

       Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Development and Support of the International Valdai Discussion Club

       Apurva Sanghi, Lead Economist, World Bank in Russia

       Moderator:

       Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Academic supervisor of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, HSE

       Working languages: Russian, English.

       Venue: Vladivostok, Far Eastern Federal University, Building B, Conference Hall 6.

       Entrance to the event is open to EEF participants and journalists accredited to the Forum.