From October 30 to November 1, MGIMO University hosted the 3rd International Scientific and Practical Conference, Digital International Relations 2024. The conference was designed to facilitate professional discussions on the digitalization of international relations, current trends in the development of the data economy and digital law, as well as the development of new solutions to promote technological sovereignty and development in the Russian Federation.
The main topic of the plenary session at the official opening of the conference was Digital Transformation of Global Politics and Economy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed the guests and participants of the conference: “Digital solutions are becoming an integral part of everyday diplomatic activities. They facilitate the collection and processing of information, the dissemination of assessments and approaches to current issues to a wide audience, and improve the quality of consular services. While opening additional opportunities, today’s technologies bear large risks. These include the growing number of attempts of malicious interference into Russia’s digital space such as cyberattacks aimed at damaging critical infrastructure, as well as the spread of disinformation for information and psychological influence on the people.”
Alexey Goreslavsky, Director General of the Internet Development Institute, elaborated on the role and substance of modern digital content at the plenary session.
“On average in Russia, a person spends 3 hours and 52 minutes on a smartphone. This is a child, a pensioner, or any other person. Four hours out of life go and are spent in the virtual world. And this is the content window that we, as the Internet Development Institute, with the help of all the producers that exist in Russia, are trying to occupy with top-quality content that carries the right values. At this point, we are succeeding, and there has even been some import substitution.”
Over the course of three days, 24 sessions, roundtables, and presentations were held to discuss the problems of integrating artificial intelligence into everyday life, science, and international relations.
On October 31, during the conference, a presentation of a pre-publication copy of the book International Internet Governance took place. The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ was involved in preparing the book for publication. The book was presented by Elena Zinovieva, head of the team of authors and a professor in the Department of World Political Processes at MGIMO University, and Andrey Vorobyev, director of the Coordination Center.
“I would like to note that the translation of Jovan Kurbalija’s book Internet Governance was first published by the Coordination Center and later by the national domain registrar of Belarus. A few years ago, the idea arose to create a book that would take into account Russian views and approaches, and Elena Zinovieva and her team of authors supported this initiative. This new book is what we are presenting today,” said Andrey Vorobyev.
Elena Zinovieva noted that the idea to create a book on internet governance, reflecting the Russian perspective, appeared several years ago. “In the book, we tried to examine the issue of internet governance through the lens of the national interests of Russia and other friendly countries and reflect different views and approaches to this subject,” she said.
Elena Zinovieva also emphasized that modern digital international relations are built at the intersection of technology and politics, and it is very important to preserve the global nature of the internet and its coherence while respecting the national interests of all countries. “Nations benefit from a cohesive internet, where not only national security interests but also national development interests are realized. And sovereignty, including digital and technological sovereignty, ought to be considered as part of global processes in the field of science and technology development,” she added.
During the presentation, the participants discussed current trends and innovative approaches to network management in the context of increasing national digital sovereignty and growing polarization in digital international relations.
