16 January 2018 - 18 January 2018
Moscow, Russia

IIASA and Russia: Gaidar Forum 2018

Director General and CEO Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat led an IIASA delegation to participate in the Gaidar Forum in Moscow. The Forum is the major annual international scientific conference in the field of economics in Russia 

© IIASA

© IIASA

At the forum, Kabat strengthened cooperation between Russia and IIASA through meetings with leading experts in government, academia, and business. Kabat also held his first meeting with the newly elected President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IIASA National Member Organization) Academician Alexander Sergeev. IIASA scientists presented their latest research findings about aging and reported on the latest developments of the Eurasian Economic Integration project.

Russia is a founding member of IIASA with forty-five years of continuous intensive cooperation resulting in a range of academic and science to policy achievements (see box below for examples of recent collaborations). 

Gaidar Forum 2018

The Gaidar Forum has been the central annual political and economic international scientific conference in Russia since 2010. The event is organized by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, and the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR). 

Pavel Kabat; World Population Program (POP) Deputy Director Sergei Scherbov; Advanced Systems Analysis Program (ASA) Senior Research Scholar Evgeny Vinokurov; and ASA Research Scholar Anastasia Stepanova, were invited participants at this event.

Sessions included:

  • Pavel Kabat at the high-level Plenary Session “Values and Virtues” with Jacob A. Frenkel, Chairman, JP Morgan Chase International; Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer, The World Bank; Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Policy Center, President Emeritus of the European Council; and other eminent speakers. 
  • A keynote report by Sergei Scherbov at the Expert Discussion Session on "Innovative Approaches to Assessing Population Aging" that focused on the latest approaches to the measurement of population aging developed at IIASA, the definition of the old age threshold, and using them to analyze aging in countries around the world and in Russia. The session also included the launch of the Aging Demographic Datasheet 2018 (see box below).
  • A presentation by Evgeny Vinokurov on continental transport corridors as part of the Eurasian Economic Integration project during the Expert Discussion Session “EU-EAEU: in Search of Synergy”.
  • Anastasia Stepanova spoke at the Expert Discussion Session “Economic Cooperation as a Source of Economic Growth in Russia”. She also reported on the project “Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Integration within a Wider European and Eurasian Space” (see box below).

On the margins of the Gaidar Forum Kabat met briefly with Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank, to discuss issues of common scientific interest for both organizations. Kabat also met with Academician Anatoly Torkunov, Rector of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University), with whom he drew up further steps of interaction on science diplomacy.

Aging Demographic Datasheet 2018

The Aging Demographic Datasheet 2018, was launched at the Gaidar Forum 2018. This is the first time that new measures of aging, developed at IIASA for all countries in the world and world regions, including projections for 2050, are comprehensively presented in one data sheet.  

IIASA researchers Scherbov and Warren Sanderson have been developing new measures of age and aging in demographic research for many years. They suggest broadening research methods to account for significant increases in life expectancy, as the focus on the chronological age of people alone provides a limited picture of the process, which is often not appropriate for either scientific study or policy analysis. Their groundbreaking results have been published in Nature and Science, as well as in other high level journals, and have recently been included in the UN report on aging.

Scherbov is also the PI of the Reassessing Aging from a Population Perspective (Re-Aging) project at IIASA that, among other things, ascertains the extent to which advanced societies are actually aging in multiple dimensions, including health, cognitive abilities, and longevity. 

Kabat with Member of the Board and Minister in the areas of integration and macroeconomics for the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) H.E. Tatyana Valovaya.


Kabat with Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) H.E. Andrei Belianinov.

Kabat thanked H.E. Valovaya for her participation as a speaker at the IIASA high-level session “Connectivity, Trade and Economic Cooperation within a Wider European and Eurasian Space” during the 24th OSCE Ministerial Council at Hofburg Palace, and for her valuable contributions to the panel deliberations. H.E. Valovaya confirmed her support to the IIASA Eurasian Economic Integration project. They discussed how this project, including the organization of the joint IIASA-EEC-RSPP special session on the margins of Russian Business Week in February 2018, can be advanced.

During his meeting with H.E. Belianinov, Kabat extended his congratulations to his recent appointment to this position, and discussed how to further enhance IIASA-EDB cooperation. This is the first meeting between Kabat and H.E. Belianinov since he came into office in December 2017. Kabat highlighted the value of a systems approach when a practical question is considered in a broader context. Kabat also briefed H.E. Belianinov on the latest developments of the Eurasian Economic Integration project, the three fast-track studies and main spheres of research focused on transport, investment, and digital economy. 

Kabat also met with Petr Aven, Member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings S.A. to discuss the latest IIASA research activities. Kabat informed Aven, who is a well-known supporter of young scientific talent (e.g. Petr Aven Fellowship under the framework of the YSSP Fund), about the results of the International Youth Forum “Future of Eurasian and European Integration: Foresight-2040”, hosted by IIASA last December.  

During his visit to Moscow, Kabat also met with Andrey Klepach, Vice-President of Vnesheconombank (VEB), and Alexander Sergeev, Director, Project "Orient" at En+ Group as a follow-up to the IIASA high-level consultation meeting on Eurasian economic integration that took place from 25-27 June 2017. 

Economic Integration within a Wider European and Eurasian Space

The international research project “Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Integration within a Wider European and Eurasian Space” focuses on plausible futures of economic cooperation in the Greater Eurasian space and on the interplay among different integration processes in the region. A specific aim of the project is to analyze the potential and conditions for the creation of a common economic space between the European Union (EU) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).




Collaborations between IIASA and the Russian Federation

Russia is a founding member of IIASA with forty-five years of continuous intensive cooperation resulting in a range of academic and science to policy achievements. Through this strategic partnership IIASA has helped Russia to find solutions to complex global challenges; develop its research base for systems analysis, and establish new multilateral scientific relationships.

Since 2008, IIASA has intensified its collaborations with the Russian Federation (Russia), leading to new joint research projects, increased interactions with Russian policymakers, significant scientific exchange through people, and a highly productive publication record.

Current projects include exploring the challenges and opportunities of Eurasian economic integration, how to minimize wildfires, population aging in Russia, and advancing the methods of systems analysis. Interactions now take place regularly between IIASA and representatives from Russian Ministries and the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

Knowledge transfer between IIASA and Russia is facilitated through multiple exchanges with Russian scientists who spend periods working in IIASA’s international and interdisciplinary research environment. The scientific output from these numerous formal and informal activities is highly productive, with almost 800 joint publications since 2008.

IIASA and Yegor Gaidar


Professor Yegor Gaidar, former Russian Prime Minister, considered by many to be the intellectual leader of Russia's economic reform in the early 1990s, made extended visits to IIASA when the institute was analyzing the issues of economic reform in the Soviet Union.



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Last edited: 26 January 2018

CONTACT DETAILS

Elena Rovenskaya

Program Director and Principal Research Scholar Advancing Systems Analysis Program

Sergei Scherbov

Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar Social Cohesion, Health, and Wellbeing Research Group - Population and Just Societies Program

Gaidar Forum 2018

IIASA meets with RAS President

Demographic Data Sheets

Info sheet on IIASA Activities with Russia

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