The Valdai Discussion Club was established in Russia in 2004. Since then, its website indicates that more than 1,000 representatives of the international scholarly community from 71 countries have taken part in the Club’s activities.
As part of its Asia program, it co-organized a conference with the Malaysian Institute for Strategic and International Studies on November 21 & 22, to which think tanks and organizations from Malaysia, China, India, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the Philippines, among others, were invited. Pathways to Progress’s Aileen Baviera was the sole representative from the Philippines.
The Valdai Club Asian Regional Conference was titled “A Changing Asia in a Transforming World “, and had focused panels on Asia’s role in world security, the changing rules of the global economy, prospects for Russia-ASEAN and Eurasian Economic Union-ASEAN cooperation, and the Indo-Pacific security concept.
The event was covered by Russian media partners.
For some insight into Russia-ASEAN relations, listen to Malaysian ISIS Chairman Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa being interviewed by Timofey Bordachev from Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics.