Vladimir Putin: Eurasia is a self-sufficient complex entity with enormous resources

On October 27, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, spoke at the plenary session of the 19th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. This year’s topic is A Post-Hegemonic World: Justice and Security for Everyone.
Noting Eurasia’s significance for the world, the President of the Russian Federation highlighted integration processes developing across its territory.
“Let me remind you that Western civilization is not the only one even in our common Eurasian space. Moreover, it is in the east of Eurasia that the majority of the population is concentrated in; this is where the centres of the most ancient human civilizations of arose.”
Vladimir Putin noted, “The value and significance of Eurasia lies in the fact that this continent is a self-sufficient complex entity with enormous resources of any kind and vast opportunities. And the harder we work to increase the interconnectedness of Eurasia, create new ways, forms of cooperation, the more impressive the success we will achieve.”
As an example, the President of the Russian Federation recalled the successes of the Eurasian Economic Union, the growth of the authority and influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, initiatives within the Belt and Road framework and plans for multilateral cooperation on the implementation of the North-South transport corridor.
These, “and others, many other projects in this part of the world, I am sure, are the beginning of a new era, a new stage in the development of Eurasia. Integration projects here do not contradict, but mutually complement each other. Of course, if they are carried out by neighbouring countries in their own interests, and are not introduced by external forces in order to split the Eurasian space, turn it into a zone of bloc confrontation,” Vladimir Putin emphasized.
“I am convinced that real democracy in a multipolar world, first of all, implies the possibility of any people – let me emphasize this – any society, any civilization to choose their own path, their own socio-political system. If the United States and the EU countries have such a right, then the countries of Asia, the Islamic states, the monarchies of the Persian Gulf and the states in other continents certainly have such a right. As does our country, Russia, of course, and no one will ever be able to dictate to our people what kind of society we should build and what principles should it rely on.”
Vladimir Putin noted that Europe could also become a natural part of Greater Eurasia, its western tip. In his opinion, this is hindered by the conviction of its leaders in their superiority over others. The four day-long meeting brought together 111 experts, politicians, diplomats and economists from Russia and 40 foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Türkiye, the United States, Uzbekistan and others.
The Valdai International Discussion Club was founded in 2004. Since then, it has become an internationally-recognized platform for the interaction between the world’s leading experts and Russian scholars, politicians and government officials. Today, the club focuses on research in the field of global political and economic processes. Over the past years, more than 1000 representatives of the world scientific community from 84 countries have taken part in the club’s work.
This year, on the very first day of the conference, the annual Valdai report A World Without Superpowers was presented. The report is based on the hypothesis of the Valdai Club research team about the inevitability of the concept of “superpower” becoming obsolete.