News
13 – 14 февраля 2024 года
The 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club “Time for Decisive Action: A Comprehensive Settlement for the Sake of Stability in the Region”
On February 13–14, 2024, the Valdai Discussion Club, with the support of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, hosted its thirteenth annual Middle East Conference, titled “Time for Decisive Action: A Comprehensive Settlement for the Sake of Stability in the Region”. About 50 experts and politicians from 16 countries took part in the Conference.
Session 1 “Towards a Comprehensive Settlement in the Middle East” was moderated by President of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Full Member of RAS Prof. Vitaly Naumkin. He emphasized the special status of the Palestinian problem, which continues to be the main obstacle to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.
Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Head of CAIS Dr. Vasily Kuznetsov moderated Session 2, dedicated to the heritage of colonial policy and its echoes in the Middle East and North Africa. In his speech Dr. Kuznetsov pointed out that the current situation in the Middle East is directly linked to the end stage of the existing world order formed by the deconstruction of the colonial system.
Moreover, the first day of the Conference also included a meeting of participants with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who thanked the researchers of the Institute for their contribution to the 3rd International Expert Meeting on the Issues of Security in the Gulf and announced the next round of inter-Palestinian negotiations that would be organized by Prof. Naumkin and his colleagues.
The second, private day of the Conference began with Session 4 “Diversity of Actors in the Middle East: Is Balance Achievable?”, marked with a contribution by CAIS Senior Research Fellow Dr. Sergey Serebrov. He presented a detailed review of the Ansarullah movement phenomenon and outlined possible consequences of the American military operation against Yemen which had re-ignited the controversies inside the country.
Other researchers from the Institute of Oriental Studies, including CAIS Senior Research Fellow Dr. Ruslan Mamedov, Research Fellow Dr. Grigory Lukyanov and Dr. Vladimir Sazhin, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Middle East Studies, took part in the Conference.