🪙 Global changes in the system of international relations, the main examples of which are the movement towards multipolarity and the increase in the weight of developing countries in world economy and politics, have become one of the signs of the current historical moment.

This trend is reflected, among other things, in the increased interest of countries in organisations without a dominant leader such as BRICS, which already unites 10 states representing 45% of the world's population.

It seems that a turning point has come when the association has a chance to show its significance and effectiveness in terms of solving issues that do not have only an economic but also an ideological dimension for the countries of the world majority.

Problems in mutual settlements between Russia and China can be solved by introducing the BRICS Pay system. Based on blockchain technologies, it can become an analogue of SWIFT for transactions in national currencies.

If Russia and China are able to resolve current difficulties by becoming pioneers in the field of cross-border digital mutual settlements, the development of the world economy has a chance to change its vector, the weight of developing countries will increase significantly, and strategic sovereignty will acquire real, not declared outlines, write Natalya Pomozova and Artyom Semenov.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/cross-border-payments-in-a-multipolar-world/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #BRICS

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⛔️ Why do countries that initiate sanctions reduce them? How long-term and sustainable is such a process?

Too often sanctions drag on for years or decades. This makes the experience of China, which managed to lift most US sanctions, even more interesting. The process has dragged on for more than a quarter of a century, and in recent years, Washington has once again increased pressure on Beijing.

However, China’s example helps shed light on the possible motives for easing sanctions or lifting them that the US has been guided by and may be guided by in the future. Three such motives can be identified.

1️⃣ The first is to reduce sanctions in order to get closer to the target country in the interest of breaking up coalitions with its participation or containing a more significant rival.

2️⃣ The second is to obtain economic advantages in the event of favourable political opportunities.

3️⃣ The third is an attempt to “socialise” the target country, to integrate it into the system of bilateral and multilateral relations in order to create an economic foundation for political dialogue.

Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, writes on these motives in the context of US-Chinese relations.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/lifting-sanctions-the-chinese-option/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #China #sanctions

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🎥 LIVE: at 11:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), we are starting an expert discussion dedicated to the Russia-DPRK Treaty and the security situation in Northeast Asia.

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239230

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #DPRK #NorthKorea

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🗣 On November 27, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the Russia-DPRK Treaty and the security situation in Northeast Asia.

📷 Photo gallery

🎥 Video

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #DPRK #NorthKorea

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🇷🇺🇰🇵 Bilateral Dynamism: New Comprehensive Russia-DPRK Partnership Treaty

On November 27, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion on the Russia-DPRK Treaty and the security situation in Northeast Asia. The moderator of the discussion was Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Club.

💬 Dmitry Kiku, Deputy Director of the Department for Control over External Restrictions of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, called the Russia-DPRK Strategic Comprehensive Partnership Treaty a continuation of the bilateral treaties and agreements that existed between the Soviet Union and the DPRK, as well as between the DPRK and the Russian Federation, in particular, the 1961 treaty. The new treaty continues a series of international documents demonstrating that Russia and its allies have begun to practically implement the policy of counteracting illegitimate sanctions.

💬 Georgy Toloraya, Head of the Centre of Russian Strategy in Asia at the Institute of Economics, RAS and Senior Researcher, Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, RAS, pointed out that the emerging reports on the presence of DPRK troops in the Special Operation Zone do not mean that the provisions of the Russian-North Korean treaty (Article 4) devoted to military assistance were invoked, since these reports have not received any official confirmation. The expert also noted the presence of a number of aspects of the treaty that are given less attention. We are talking, for example, about cooperation in the peaceful nuclear energy sector, possibly including the construction of a nuclear power plant.

💬 “It has always been clear to Russian experts on Korea that in the eyes of the United States, the DPRK is, in a sense, a testing ground for sanctions,” noted Ilya Dyachkov, Associate Professor of the Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian Languages at MGIMO university. He considers the lifting of unilateral restrictive measures against Pyongyang unlikely. Whatever the North Koreans do, it has not led to a softening of sanctions by either Seoul or by Washington.

💬 Anton Khlopkov, Director of the Centre for Energy and Security, stressed the importance of building strategic contacts with the DPRK without excessive regard for the reaction of other states. “We have noticeably delayed the adoption of an updated fundamental document that would regulate bilateral cooperation,” he believes, pointing out that North Korea is one of the few countries in the modern world that can afford to maintain an independent foreign policy, and therefore relations with it should have an appropriate legal basis and a basis in trade and economics.

💬 Xu Bo, Professor at the Northeast Asia Research Centre of Jilin University, is convinced that since the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, Russian-North Korean relations have entered a new stage. He proposed to consider these relations primarily not from the point of view of the Ukrainian crisis, but in the context of Russia’s strategic turn to the East, within the framework of which Russia is strengthening relations with all countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

💬 Konstantin Asmolov, Leading Research Fellow at the Korean Studies Centre at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that speculation around Article 4 of the new treaty overlooks the fact that within its framework, military assistance is possible if one of the parties finds itself in a state of war, which is not identical to any armed conflict and is marked by a declaration of war. At the same time, he considers Article 3 to be more significant, as it speaks of consultations, which in themselves are a serious deterrent. It implies that in a situation of impending conflict, Moscow and Pyongyang will coordinate strategy together.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/bilateral-dynamism-new-comprehensive-russia-dprk-partnership-treaty/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #DPRK #NorthKorea

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