page_title: Primakov Readings
section_title: Primakov Readings 2018
hierarchical_section_title: Primakov Readings / Summits / Primakov Readings 2018
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Панельная сессия «Новая «Большая игра» на Ближнем Востоке» на Примаковских чтениях 2018
context_page_description: The Primakov Readings is an international summit aimed at promoting dialogue on trends in global politics and economics among high-ranking experts, diplomats and decision-makers. The summit is named in honor of the academician and statesman Yevgeny Primakov. The Readings are intended both to commemorate Primakov and to continue to develop his ideas through international dialogue.
  The summit is organized by the Institute of World Economy and International Relations and is held in Moscow, Russia. Approximately 50 leaders from think tanks, universities and the diplomatic community from more than 30 countries participate in the Readings each year.
context_section_description: The main topic of Primakov Readings in 2018 was "Hedging Risks of Unstable World Order". The forum participants focused on scenarios of transformation of the international relations system, prospects for the development of the new world order and its stabilization, as well as on the most important challenges and risks of regional and global security.
  Program
  The Readings were attended by 65 prominent foreign experts from 22 countries and more than 600 representatives of the Russian scientific and expert community, public authorities, political and business circles, as well as by more than 200 media representatives. The Readings raised wide public resonance both in Russia and abroad: 38 interviews were conducted, with coverage of more than 30 million followers, and in the first week after the event, there were 1,668 reports about "Primakov Readings" in the mass media.
  At the opening ceremony prominent personalities such as Aide to the President of the Russian Federation Y.V. Ushakov, Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation V.I. Matvienko, member of the Council of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Head of the LDPR faction V.V. Zhirinovsky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Trade Center, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation S.N. Katyrin and President of IMEMO A.A. Dynkin, made appeals to the participants of the conference. President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin sent a greeting to the organizers and participants of the International Scientific and Expert Forum, expressing appreciation to the "Primakov Readings".
  The first session - "New Bipolarity” – Myth or Reality?” – touched upon the problems of crisis of supranational and international institutions, as well as the appropriateness of the very concept of "bipolarity" in contemporary international relations. The expert from Austria said that Russia and China are moving towards establishing a new world order; however, it is too early to talk about the formation of a "new bipolarity". The expert from the United States disagreed, stressing that "competing bipolarity" is developing in the world, which will lead to a "new multipolarity". The representative from the PRC noted that China is in isolation, which Russia helps to overcome to some extent. In his opinion, the role of the new institutions, in the formation of which China is involved, is important, and that is whyChina’s tactics might be somehow offensive. The representative of China did not rule out the possibility of conflicts between Washington and Beijing. From the Chinese point of view, the new bipolarity is unacceptable and it is preferable to strive for the formation of blocks.
  According to the Indian expert, the state of world politics can be defined as "multiple multipolarity". The Russian participant of the session, in his turn, drew attention to the fact that the forming system is not only a polycentric and hierarchical, but also unstable: on the one hand, there is a growing interdependence, on the other – increasing competitiveness. This trend shows the inconsistency of the dual logic of bipolarity and encourages the need to develop a new language of diplomacy.
  The second session, called "Infrastructure Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific Region: on Land and at Sea", raised questions related to the fierce competition for world trade routes, ports, and natural resources in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition the presence of a number of nuclear and threshold states in the region was mentioned during the discussion. Аs well as the complexity of the existence of "small" states, forced to maneuver between the political and economic interests of bigger players. The Vietnamese side raised the issue of political trust. The representative from India emphasized the need for economic infusions in the region's infrastructural projects, and especially the problem of competition among those projects. The expert from China stressed that Beijing's infrastructural projects are not imperialistic. He also criticized the ide
caption: The third session "New ‘Great Game’ in the Middle East"
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