The President meets with the club members every year, but this year the format will be different: instead of the traditional dinner with foreign participants, Mr Putin will address the final plenary session on Russia’s Diversity for the Modern World and take part in the discussion.
Taking part in the plenary session together with Mr Putin will be former Prime Minister of France (2007–2012) Francois Fillon, former President of the European Commission (1999–2005) Romano Prodi, former German Defence Minister (1992–1998) Volker Ruhe, and President of the US Centre for the National Interest Dimitry Simes.
The plenary session will sum up the results of the club’s four days of work, which focused on issues such as defining Russians’ identity, the vision of Russia’s future through a prism of regional, religious, ethnic and values diversity, and discussions of global factors that influence internal development. The participants also discussed the main development trends in Eurasia, Europe and Asia. A separate session was devoted to the situation in Syria.
The Valdai Club’s anniversary session is the biggest and most representative in the club’s history, with more than 200 experts and intellectual, political and public figures from 34 different countries taking part.