Plenary Session "Eurasia as a Region of Multilateral Partnership"

Integration initiatives in Eurasia are becoming more widespread. In 2013 in Kazakhstan President of China Xi Jinping announced the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) initiative that is supposed to stimulate the formation of regional infrastructure and to boost investment in Eurasian region. Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) came into operation on January 1, 2015. Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan as well as Kyrgyzstan are the members of the EAEU. On May 8, 2015 Russian and Chinese leaders signed the Joint Statement on Cooperation on the Construction of Joint EAEU and the SREB Projects. At present, the talks between EAEU and China with the prospect of forming a Free Trade Area (FTA) are underway. The establishment of a FTA within the SCO is considered one of the Organization’s development vectors. In this context, the initiative of shaping the Great Eurasian Partnership becomes a topical issue. This partnership would respect the interests of all regional states on the basis of equality and would avoid counterproductive competition between existing Eurasian integration projects. • Are Russia’s and China’s interests in Eurasia in accord? What are the possible effects of interaction and competition between regional groupings in Eurasia? In what way the stances of global and regional powers could affect the implementation of Russian and Chinese initiatives? • What achievements and problems have come to the forefront at the first stage of EAEU operation? What are the prospects of EAEU’s cooperation with third countries? What is to be done to increase the EAEU’s potential in mediating trade and investment flows between the East and the West? • Silk Road Economic Belt: what projects are currently being implemented? What regional players are most interested in the emerging investment opportunities and the infrastructure modernization within the SREB? • Non-preferential EAEU-China agreement: which provisions will be included into the treaty? What are the possible effects of the agreement? Are the EAEU member states interested in the cooperation with China in this framework? • How could EAEU and SREB’s co-development be implemented? What effect will the EAEU–SREB alignment have on Eurasia economy? • How does the EAEU-SREB collaboration fit into the overall regional context? What are the prospects for fostering cooperation between EAEU, SREB and EU member states? • Great Eurasian Partnership: what are the main ideas of the initiative? What is to be done to promote EAEU–SCO–ASEAN cooperation? Is it possible to establish a single economic and infrastructural space on the whole continent? Moderator: LISSOVOLIK Yaroslav, Chief Economist at the Eurasian Development Bank Participants: BULAVIN Vladimir, Head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, Chairman of the Russian Chapter of the Sub-Commission for Customs Cooperation of the Russia-China Commission on Preparation of Regular Meetings of the Heads of Governments ASAUL Nikolay, Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia ZHAO Huasheng, Professor of the Institute for International Studies at Fudan University SHUKHNO Sergey, Director of Department of the Integration Development of the Eurasian Economic Commission UŠACKAS Vygaudas, Ambassador of the European Union to the Russian Federation OTORBAEV Djoomart, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (2014-2015) PAN Dawei, Director of the Centre for Russia and Central Asia Studies at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) LARIN Viktor, Director of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Peoples of the Far Eastern Branch of RAS XUE Fuqi, Director of Programmes of the Council for Strategic Interaction between China and Russia, Director of Department of the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) PORTYAKOV Vladimir, Deputy Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of RAS, Editor-in-Chief of the Problems of the Far East LI Xin, Director of the Centre for the Russian and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) STENT Angela, Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University