Experts and essayists highly praised the scale of the Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. New Platform for Global Growth"

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More than one hundred guests from 48 countries participated in the three-day Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. New Platform for Global Growth," which concluded on 30 April at the National Centre RUSSIA. During the final session, world-class experts and authors of the best essays on the future of the world shared their impressions of participating in this international event.

Sergei Ivanov, Executive Director and member of the Board of Directors of the EFKO Group of Companies, was surprised by the number of essays reviewed as part of the Open Dialogue.

"To be honest, I was initially skeptical about the format of the Open Dialogue because the essay format is a specific intellectual concept, and I thought maybe we would receive at most 50 to 100 essays. But what surprised me was how people from different corners of the world responded to this idea. Such a large number of essays — 700! I believe this reflects a kind of demand for a different, more intellectually engaged form of interaction," Sergei Ivanov noted.

The format of the Open Dialogue was supported by Canadian economist Joseph Potvin, who participated as an essayist in the track "Investments in Connectivity." He also noted the positive changes in Russia and the quality of communication.

"Open Dialogue is a bold dialogue — a space where bold ideas are welcomed and have the potential to change the world," said Joseph Potvin. "I met people here whom I would like to collaborate with in the future — this event helps establish horizontal connections. When I learned about this project, I was glad that there would finally be an opportunity to discuss the future of the world. As for Russia, I see remarkable changes. But what is most important is what has remained unchanged — the quality of communication with Russian people, the richness, intensity, and drive of the discussions."

Yelizaveta Romanova, a student of the Russian State Social University, noted that the Open Dialogue provided participants with a unique opportunity to express their ideas and hope that they would be heard.

"Open dialogue is the most wonderful thing we have because it allows not only to hear the thoughts of others but also to be heard. The main principle of humanity is when the economy, the environment, technology, and all other factors of development are aligned with the human being. I am surprised at how many people here agree that the most important thing in our world is humanity and adherence to moral standards. It would be better if we all worked on this together — and we are trying. The ideas of everyone sitting here are ideas for people, not against them. What matters is to use them the right way," Yelizaveta Romanova said with conviction.

The idea expressed by the student of the Russian State Social University was continued by Naila Merhabova, a member of the Supervisory Board of Azersun Holding (Azerbaijan), whose speech received high praise in the thematic track "Investments in Technology."

"I would like to thank the organizers of the Open Dialogue for making this event possible. In a changing world, it is very important to provide people — ordinary people — with a platform where they can express their ideas, assumptions, hypotheses, and solutions. That is why the Open Dialogue, which I was fortunate to attend, is of exceptional importance: it gave us the opportunity to convey our ideas to experts and hope that they could be implemented and perhaps even change the world for the better," said Naila Merhabova.

The participants of the Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. New Platform for Global Growth," held from 28 to 30 April at the National Centre RUSSIA, included over one hundred guests from 48 countries. Experts and authors of the best essays on the future of the world discussed the key challenges of today and outlined guidelines for development in a multipolar world.

As part of the Open Dialogue, 696 essays were collected, written by authors from 102 countries in 18 languages, including Pashto, Malagasy, Serbian, Greek, and others. The topic that attracted the most interest was "Investments in Human Capital" (41%), followed by "Investments in Connectivity" (24%), "Investments in Technology" (22%), and "Investments in the Environment" (13%). Expert pitch sessions were held for each of these topics, and the authors of the best essays, selected by world-class experts, were given the opportunity to speak at the panel pitch and the final session of the Open Dialogue.

In total, the participants of the Open Dialogue represented 48 countries (all continents of the world.)