From June 22 to 27, Moscow hosted the VII Youth Session of the Primakov Readings, organized by the Primakov Center in collaboration with the Council of Young Scientists at IMEMO. The program brought together 30 young scholars from 12 countries: Bosnia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
The Primakov Readings Youth Session is one of the largest platforms for young international experts from Russia and other countries to present their papers and attend lectures by leading Russian researchers on pressing international issues.
As noted by Victoria Karslieva, Executive Director of the Center: "When the Primakov Readings first started, it became clear that it was necessary to create a layer of expertise consisting of young people who would interact with high-level experts and lay the groundwork for subsequent professional development. This is how the youth session came about, which has been held annually ever since, preceding the 'adult' forum."
The key theme of this year's youth session was "Russia in the Emerging World Order: Challenges and Opportunities."
The working program consisted of discussion panels and participant presentations on five topics: prospects for the development of BRICS+, challenges facing Greater Eurasia, the Global South on the verge of change, Africa in the new global context, and the latest technologies and their impact on the transformation of the world order. The session's experts included renowned Russian researchers, among them Alikber Alikberov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Irina Abramova, Doctor of Economics, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Oleg Ozerov, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Irina Zvyagelskaya, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Head of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at IMEMO RAS, and others.
"I have been engaged in nuclear issues in various dimensions for a long time, from non-proliferation to peaceful nuclear energy. I defended my Ph.D. thesis on this topic and am currently writing my doctoral dissertation. I was interested in looking at the prospects for the development of the nuclear technology market in different regions. I focused on Latin America, Africa, and the more familiar Asia-Pacific region," said Gleb Toropchin, a participant in the youth session and Deputy Dean for Scientific Work at the Faculty of Humanities Education at NSTU. He prepared a paper on "The Global South as a Promising Market for Nuclear Energy: Opportunities for Russia."
One of the popular topics among foreign researchers was BRICS. For instance, Namita Barthwal, a research assistant at the Center for Land Warfare Studies in India, prepared an analysis of the prospects for the development of the association: "I analyzed the changes in BRICS due to the inclusion of new countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. In particular, I was interested in how the expansion could change the economic and geopolitical influence of the association, enhance its role in global energy markets, and facilitate trade in local currencies to reduce dependence on the US dollar."
In addition to the working sessions, a cultural program was organized for the participants. They were taken on a tour of Yevgeny Primakov's places in Moscow, led by Artem Adrianov, an employee of the Primakov Center, and attended a concert by the Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The final highlight of the youth session was the participation of young researchers in the X International Scientific and Expert Forum "Primakov Readings," which took place from June 25 to 26 at the WTC venue. At the forum, they had the opportunity to listen to presentations by leading Russian and foreign experts and engage with them in the corridors after the sessions, asking any questions of interest.