The focus of this year’s Valadi Middle East Conference is the regional architecture and scenarios of what the 2020 will bring to the region, including unexpected change of power in Algeria and Sudan, protests in Lebanon and Iraq, the sensational election results in Tunisia, and the endless electoral process in Israel. Amid this situation, Russia continues to insist on the creation of an integrated collective security mechanism in the region.

One of the main topics of the meeting was the Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Experts discuss the proposal of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov made to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. Lavrov called for negotiations on an Israeli-Palestinian settlement within the framework of the quartet, which provoked a positive reaction from the Palestinian side. Other experts continued insisting on Trump’s deal of the century discussion, which has already provoked a sharply negative reaction from Palestine and many other states, including Iran.

One of the problems of the region is access to water. Another problem is demography and social environment. The average age of the region’s inhabitants is 25 years, the unemployment rate is very high. In addition, experts noted that a problem in several parts of the region is the intervention of foreign forces that seek to change one regime or another and also provide weapons to radical groups.

The region’s future in the global context, the growing conflict potential in the region, relations between Arab countries and their non-Arab neighbors, the situation in the Persian Gulf and in the Maghreb, the relations between Russia and the sub-regional states, and the new wave of protest sentiments in the region were among the discussion topics.

The participants agree that the key to a shift from radical violence to stable development in West Asia lies in collaboration on mutual interests, something they believe can be achieved through diplomatic and political dialog and without the presence of external intervention.