Minsk hosted a scientific and practical conference "Strategic Analysis and Forecasting. Belarus in the global world". The meeting was organized by the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR), which, within its competence, actively engaged in the elaboration of initiatives on the need to strengthen the predictive and analytical component.
Over the past years, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has regularly taken initiatives on the need to strengthen the predictive and analytical component in the CSTO activities, focusing on building institutional capacity in this area. As the Belarusian leader stated, "we see this as a guarantee of a qualitative strengthening of the organization and a more effective response to emerging challenges and security threats. This will allow us to combine the scientific and expert potential of our countries in the name of ensuring peace and security." In addition, at the EAEU summit in Bishkek last December, the Head of State put forward an initiative to hold a joint summit of the Heads of the EAEU, SCO and BRICS states. Guided by the President's guidelines, BISR, within its competence, actively engaged in the elaboration of these initiatives. An important interim result of this work was the holding in Minsk on October 25, 2023 of the scientific and practical conference "Strategic Analysis and Forecasting. Belarus in the global world".
The expert discussion, the format of which was initially defined as a meeting of friends and like-minded people, in addition to representatives of analytical services of leading public administration bodies, was also attended by foreign partners of the BISR: heads and experts of the Hungarian Institute of International Relations, the Center for Studies of Russia and CIS Countries of the Institute of European Studies of the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, the Institute of Political and International Studies under the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kyrgyzstan, the Emirati Center for Strategic Studies, the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies, the Center for Eurasian Studies of Turkey (AVIM), the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan, as well as the CSTO Secretariat.
Therefore, the geography of the conference participants cross-covered the space of the CSTO, the EAEU, the SCO and the BRICS. In the first approximation, such a format can be considered as a mini-summit, which the President of Belarus spoke about. And it was about the need to unite the scientific and expert potential of like-minded countries in the interests of solving common problems and tasks.
Within the framework of the event, BISR presented the accumulated professional know-hows in the field of methodology of analytical activity. The agenda was structured into six thematic sets, during which the following aspects were considered: features of analytics, its role and place in the modern world, international cooperation; participation of analysts in diagnosing problems of development of the country's regions, as well as in monitoring the well-being of the Belarusian society; communication and interaction of analysts with decision makers; nuances of analytical services with big data, technologies, statistics and social networks; problems of recruitment and training of personnel for analytical services; interaction of analysts with scientific institutions, civil society and the expert community.
It was emphasized in the course of discussions that the modern world is facing many problems that have led to a crisis of multilateralism and global governance. The complexity of the current situation imposes new requirements on the level of understanding of the nonlinearity and interconnectedness of processes. Innovative ideas and meanings that play a key role in the formation of a new format of both international relations and domestic political development of the country can radically change the situation. Generating such ideas is impossible without using the tools of strategic forecasting and vision of the image of the future. At the same time, it is important that they are based on reliable, scientifically based research and analysis, as well as broad international cooperation.
In this regard, it is natural for communities of like-minded states to appear in the space of the CSTO, SCO and BRICS, a systematic request of decision makers for qualitative expertise to understand the deep essence of the processes taking place and their possible consequences in the process of making managerial decisions. The strength of analytical centers is their ability to work equally effectively both in a crisis, being a channel for maintaining dialogue and working out ways to detente, and a clear sky.
Strategic analysis is becoming an effective tool for preventing modern risks, challenges and threats. At the country and regional level, there is a noticeable shift in the goals and priorities of analytical centers towards increasing influence on key processes, as well as participation in real politics.
Today, expert diplomacy promotes the search for optimal compromises, the rapprochement of mutual interests, and the establishment of a trusting dialogue. The focus on participation in decision-making processes increases the international subjectivity of the "think tanks", making them a very prestigious and more than ever in demand professional guild.
In the current international and regional situation, states pay special attention to interaction with the expert community, create and strengthen their analytical institutions. In this regard, the decision of the President of the Republic of Belarus to establish the BISR, which will be five years old in February 2024, was the Belarusian response to current challenges. Today, BISR is the first state-owned "think tank" and at the same time a scientific institution.
Interaction of research centers in the space of the CSTO, SCO and BRICS plays an important role in the overall analytical ecosystem. It helps to strengthen mutual trust and unity, and is also a catalyst for more advanced integration formats.
Following the results of the scientific and practical conference, the important role and place of analytical and research centers in the development and strengthening of international cooperation were noted and the existence of significant intellectual potential in like-minded countries for a deep and comprehensive analysis of modern problems of international development and security was confirmed, as well as mutual readiness and interest expressed to improve the mechanisms of practical cooperation between analytical centers in in order to exchange information and best practices. In addition, the participants supported the thesis about the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in conducting a strategic analysis of the studied objects for the subsequent use of the final analytical product by decision makers, and recognized the key importance of the resource (personnel) provision of analytical centers and institutes, the need for continuous professional development, the development of a common methodology and the creation of universally recognized centers for training analysts.
I believe that the participation of the BISR in the creation of a seamless mutually integrated expert space in Greater Eurasia and its expanded neighborhood, harmoniously complementing the indivisible zone of sustainable development and security, is fully correlated with the initiative of the President of the Republic of Belarus on combining the efforts and synergy of the potentials of the CSTO, BRICS, EAEU and SCO.