"Countries of the global majority are changing reality": Professor of the University of Madrid spoke at the SPIEF'25

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The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held in Russia from June 18 to 21. The business program was opened by the session "Shaping a new platform for Global Growth", where the final report on the results of the international Open dialogue, held at the National Centre RUSSIA, was presented.

The session is devoted to the current challenges of our time: economic and political fragmentation, demographic changes, the consequences of introduction of the breakthrough technologies, as well as to the social and technological gap both within and between countries.

A speaker from Spain, Doctor of Economics, Professor of International Economics at the University Complutense of Madrid, Juan Antonio de Castro de Arespacochaga, made a report on how the countries of the global majority change the reality:

"Today, the countries of the world's majority are not just participating in global processes — they are changing reality. We can see how an increasingly flexible and multipolar world order is taking shape. The global trade is becoming fragmented, fast, and technologically advanced, and the international system is becoming a network of preferential agreements, which distorts the principles underlying the GATT and WTO", Juan Antonio de Castro de Arespacochaga emphasized.

In his opinion, the world becomes more and more fragmented and unpredictable, and this is true for politics as well as for economy.

"The international trade architecture is disintegrating into nodes and blocks, which requires new approaches. We must be able to respond to these challenges, understanding that the old rules no longer work in the new dynamics," stressed Juan Antonio de Castro de Arespacochaga.

The session was moderated by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin.

"It is important to have an open dialogue about how we are going to build the world of the future, and how to shape a new platform for global growth. In which countries will this global growth take place, on what technologies will it be built, on what principles and cultural code? Our task is to make movement forward such that it will be beneficial for people in all those countries that, like Russia, are working on the future. It is through open dialogue that our future and our understanding of it are built", said Maxim Oreshkin.

At the session organized by the National Centre RUSSIA, the speakers, among other things, discussed the report on the results of the Open Dialogue prepared by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Expertise "Third Rome". The key issues were the factors of the formation of a new economic wave, technologies — drivers of economic development, and ways to achieve human well-being.

The results of the session "Shaping a new platform for Global Growth" became the basis for the subsequent SPIEF 2025 business program. A recording of the broadcast of the session "Shaping a new platform for global growth" can be viewed on the website of the National Centre RUSSIA.