October 14^th–16^th, MGIMO hosted the 13^th Russian International Studies Association (RISA) Convention, embracing several major international conferences, over 70 discussion sessions, special events of multilateral and bilateral dialogue platforms as well as partner research and educational institutions.

The Convention gathered over 2,000 leading scholars, experts, statesmen and businessmen from Russia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, France, Greece, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the UK, the USA, Uzbekistan, ASEAN and Latin American countries.

The welcome addresses for the Convention’s participants were sent by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi.

The Convention started on October 14^th with a plenary session entitled “Sustainable Development ­– a Platform for a Broad International Dialogue”, which in many regards set the tone for the following expert discussions. Among the participants of the lively discussion devoted to this extremely relevant topic were the Special Representative of the Russian President for Relations with International Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals Anatoly Chubais, the Director-General of the WTO (2005–2013) Pascal Lamy, the Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Adil Aliyev, the Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Energy and Infrastructure of the Eurasian Economic Commission Temirbek Asanbekov, the Governor of Kamchatka Krai Vladimir Solodov, the Dean of the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences and one of the RISA founders Andrei Melville, the member of the State Great Khural, Minister of Environment and Tourism (2012) and Foreign Minister of Mongolia (2017–2020), MGIMO graduate Damdiny Tsogtbaatar, the Rector of Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Abdukhalil Gafurzoda, the General Director of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) Valery Fedorov.

The plenary session was followed by the 1st Russian Open International Conference on Sustainable Development and ESG Transformation, which discussed the national approaches and the global green transition.

The Convention served as a platform for the sessions and events of partner organizations, including the Valdai International Discussion Club, the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, the PIR Center, the Russian International Affairs Council, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Institute of Latin America, the RAS Institute of General History, the RAS Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, the RAS Institute of Europe, the RAS Institute of Africa, the RAS Institute of Geography, the Institute of CIS Countries, Russia in Global Affairs journal, Far-Eastern Federal University, and the research centers of the MGIMO Institute for International Studies.

Held on the first day of the Convention, the special session entitled “Thirty Years of the New Russia’s Foreign Policy” focused on the periodization of foreign policy, the role of foreign ministers in the implementation of the foreign policy strategy, the challenges in the relations with former Soviet countries and the status of the Russian Federation in the international arena.

Within the framework of the joint project “The Post-Crisis World Order: Challenges and Technology, Competition and Cooperation” with the RAS IMEMO, a session entitled “Evolving World Order: Global and Regional Challenges for Russia” was held, where several institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented their approaches to the issue.

The prospects for developing relations with the countries of Latin America and current trends in the region were examined during the conference “Ibero-American World. Russian Perspective”, organized to honor the memory of MGIMO professor, a prominent interpreter and author of several textbooks on Spanish Alla Zenkovich. The project was carried out with the support of the MGIMO Alumni Association.

The second day of the Convention, October the 15^th, saw the special session “Afghanistan in the System of Regional Relations”. The long debate concerned the approaches of various countries to the settlement of humanitarian, political and economic crisis in Afghanistan, ensuring regional security as well as preventing drug trafficking and terrorist activities. The event was co-organized by MGIMO and its partners: the International Institute for Central Asia and the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (Uzbekistan).

The topical issues of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN, the current state of the Dialogue Partnership against the backdrop of the pandemic, the dynamics of South-East Asia development and the main trends in political and economic development of individual member states of the Association were analyzed on October 15th-16th during the conference “Russia and ASEAN in the Asia-Pacific Region: Dynamics of Cooperation, Regional Processes and Global Context” which celebrated the 25^th anniversary of Russia-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership and the 30^th anniversary of their bilateral relations.

On October 15^th, “Law Between East and West” conference was organized together with the Law Faculty of Kazan Federal University. The legal agenda was complemented by the session on the latest trends in the legal settlement of integration processes moderated by the Head of MGIMO Department of European Law Mark Entin, as well as the presentation of the book “Advokatura i advokatskaya deyatelnost” (The Bar and Advocacy) edited by Alexey Klishin.

You can find the broadcast on the MGIMO YouTube Channel.

For three days, the Book Fair was open, with publishers specializing in international affairs as exhibitors. The cultural program of the Convention included the photo exhibition “Bilateral Relations of Russia and Greece in the 20^th and the 21^st centuries” (as part of the Greek-Russian History Cross-Year), the presentation of a documentary produced by MGIMO professor Evgeny Kozhokin entitled “The German Teacher”, a jazz band show and a bright concert organized by the MGIMO Cultural Center.

In the afternoon of October 15^th, the participants of the Convention, MGIMO faculty, students and graduates enjoyed the vocal, instrumental and choreographic performances of Russian and international MGIMO students and graduates. The concert of creative studios and soloist of the Vernadsky and Odintsovo Cultural Centers were devoted to the MGIMO Day and the conclusion of the RISA Convention.

The RISA Convention was the first major event among several strategic projects, which MGIMO University carries out in the framework of the Priority–2030 program.

The Organizing Committee of the RISA Convention thanks its partners: S8 Capital company, the RAS IMEMO, the MGIMO Alumni Association and Endowment, the Center for Sustainable Development and the ASEAN Center, the French-Russian Trianon Dialogue and the Austrian-Russian Sochi Dialogue.

Among the information partners of the Convention were TASS agency (the general information partner), Vedomosti business newspapers as well as Expert and Diletant journals.