On May 20-21, 2021, the city of Kazan hosts the Central Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club, titled “Russia and Central Asia Facing the Challenges of the New World — A Joint Path to the Future.” Participants in the first session, open for the media and the general public, discussed the impact of the pandemic on the political systems of the region and the world.
The coronavirus pandemic has become a serious test for the socio-economic and political systems of all countries of the world. Russia and the countries of Central Asia also face the complex impact of pandemic stress on societies, social systems and governance. The consequences of the pandemic affected statehood in different ways: while in some countries they sped up internal changes, elsewhere they slowed them down. The purpose of the session is to discuss the lessons learned, positive and negative examples of interstate interaction and coordination of national authorities’ actions, the pandemic consequences for multilateral institutions: the EAEU, the CSTO and the CIS; opportunities to strengthen interaction.