On January 15–16, 2020, a regular 11th Gaidar Forum was held in Moscow; the theme of this year is defined as “Russia and the World: Challenges of the New Decade”. The forum participants, as before, included leading world scientists, politicians, representatives of financial circles and the global business elite.

On January 15–16, 2020, a regular 11th Gaidar Forum was held in Moscow; the theme of this year is defined as “Russia and the World: Challenges of the New Decade”. The forum participants, as before, included leading world scientists, politicians, representatives of financial circles and the global business elite. The forum registered more than 14,700 participants, including 600 speakers from more than 30 countries. This time, the central theme of the forum was the search for answers to the main challenges that await Russia and the world in the new decade. The program of the event includes discussions of Russia's development strategy, national development goals and economic growth, scientific and technological breakthroughs and digitalization, transformation of public administration systems and geopolitical trends, education and social ties for young people, tax myths and transformation of the banking system, social responsibility of business.

On the morning of January 15, as part of the forum an expert discussion "Greater Europe: is it still in the making?” was held. The session was devoted to Russian-European relations, the search for and creation of instruments to overcome disagreements and develop existing cooperation. The experts analyzed the causes and prerequisites of current relations, considering the experience of successful cooperation, providing a comprehensive framework for further bilateral relations. The central issue was if the protagonists in Greater Europe agree to disagree on the certain number of issues (security, economy, humanitarian problems) in the current geopolitical debate, as well as the prospects for creating instruments and tools to overcome disagreement and go further with the agreed issues.

Giles Merritt, Founder, Chairman, Friends of Europe, moderated the discussion. The speakers included: Igor Yurgens, Member of the Management Board, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; Alexander Grushko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Giulio Tremonti, Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy (1994–1995, 2001–2006, 2008–2011); Markus Ederer, Ambassador of the European Union to Russia; Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria (2000–2007), Minister of the Interior of Austria (2007); Daniel Tarschys, Professor at the Stockholm University, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (1994– 1999); Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council; Fedor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief, Russia in Global Politics Magazine; Valentina Komleva, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Regional Studies and Regional Administration, Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service, RANEPA; Franco Bruni, Vice-President, Institute for International Political Studies of Italy.