Non-Western World, Tired of Forced Decoupling of Global Economy, Goes to Vladivostok

My answer is: we are watching such gatherings to see where the wind is blowing to, in this case in global economy.

We are talking about a regular annual event, mostly dealing with business projects in Asia. EEF was initially supposed to gather partners to develop the Russian Far East, and it was meant to be mostly about Russia’s Eastern neighbors, like China, Koreas, Japan, and only then the rest. But ask the Indian delegation that goes there every year, and members of that delegation will tell you that nowadays it is next to impossible to talk about purely regional problems and regional projects, since all of the world’s business is global.

So, what is really interesting this time in Vladivostok? That’s a matter of personal taste. I’ve noted Sberbank’s report about opening rupiah deposits at 3.56 per cent. We are talking about Russia’s oldest and biggest bank, retailing all over the land.

Or you may note the words of Ivan Podberesnyak, head of MSPBank (Russia) about too many settlements with China been made “like by a thief in the night”. Finally, there were the words by Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, fresh from his visit to Mongolia, that all payments made between that country and Russia are in national currencies, and that works well.

All that brings us, again and again, to ideas about what is money. Essentially, it’s a promise, a matter of trust. If you trust this or that currency to get you what you want any moment, that’s money. If the US tries to limit your abilities to get what you want with their dollar, then it ceases to be money in this or that corner of the world, losing its trustworthiness.

Avoiding dollar and euro payments have been a vital topic among the so-called Global Majority of nations for some months or years. In that regard, the EEF seems to be yet another stepping stone to the BRICS summit in Russia this November, where a new and relatively non-Western global economy will be the main subject. And it was in Vladivostok, where at least two bits of information in that regard have to be noted.

First bit is about the already-mentioned Mongolia, which Vladimir Putin was visiting before coming to Vladivostok. That’s one of the nations that have long been learning the Indian lessons of balancing all kind of partners, East or West, geography be damned. The catch is to get what you want, economically, without endangering other economic ties. So, Mongolia has long been reluctant to join the unions like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. But now, after signing a package of business deals with Putin, the Mongolian President Hurelsukh decided to go to the BRICS summit to Russia as a guest.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seems to be yet another example of the same kind. He came to Vladivostok to meet Putin and, among other things, to discuss Malaysia’s bid to join BRICS as soon as possible.

Of course, here we are only talking about the Vladivostok forum as a diplomatic ground for further strengthening the Global South economic integration. That integration is not only a matter of payment in this or that currency, although that problem seems to be currently a #1 on BRICS agenda. It’s about the general shape of the world economy in the nearest future.

It seems that the Western idea to make one huge decoupling, create two separate global economies, the Chinese and American ones, is meeting quiet, but firm resistance of the mentioned Global South, or the Global Majority of nations. If and when one side of the projected great divide presses someone not to deal economically with nations on the other side, then that pressure brings mostly problems for those too insistent.

Turning back to our Vladivostok forum, there are other features of it that give us some hints about the shape of the world to come. India has just put its signature to some plans about business with Yakutia, a Russian Far Eastern autonomy rich in diamonds. And why not have a look at the general shape of Indian interests in and around this forum, obtained by the website infobrics.org: One of the primary Delhi’s objectives is to advance discussions on the Vladivostok-Chennai Eastern Maritime Corridor, which aims to connect India with the resource-rich Arctic region, as agreed upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin during their July summit. India plans to improve infrastructure in Chennai to handle increased trade volume and facilitate the functioning of the Eastern Maritime Corridor, and is developing a trans-shipment hub in the Bay of Bengal to support growing trade with Russia and other international partners. The two nations are also exploring a joint shipbuilding project to enhance maritime trade capabilities.

So, the forum’s business is business? Still, Russian and foreign delegates at the EEF have, rather suddenly, taken keen interest in yet another subject, related to the future of the world. And that’s culture, education and other humanitarian issues, that are supposed to connect the world better than they do now.

Just to give an example, here we see a vivid discussion in Vladivostok on the matter of cultural leadership as a factor in the competitiveness of regions. What? Surely it’s about various regions of Russia itself, presenting themselves to domestic and foreign investors?

But, no. The idea is, as the chair puts it, that there is a global trend whereby different regions of nations and of the whole world that compete amongst themselves to attract national and international direct investment, seek increased tourism to revive the regional economy, and create and strengthen a favorable image of themselves for external and internal stakeholders.

So, that session is trying to determine what does a city, region, even a country need to promote themselves and raise their status internationally. And that’s only one of such discussions, prominent this year in Vladivostok. You don’t only win minds with your goods and commodities, you do it with your ideas and values. One may envisage a lot of global discussion on such matters in the coming turbulent years.