Schiller Institute Addresses
BRICS Research Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation

by Richard A. Black, Schiller Institute Representative at the UN

[Print version of this article]

Oct. 29—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, and Richard A. Black, representative of the Schiller Institute to the United Nations in New York, gave on-line presentations Oct. 25 to a major international conference organized by the National Committee for BRICS Research of Russia. The event was the “International Scientific-Practical Conference: Scientific-Technological and Innovative Cooperation of BRICS Countries.” The BRICS nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with a number of other major developing nations now in process of joining the multinational group. This conference was held for an in-person and on-line audience of experts at the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION RAS), a venue of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

The co-sponsoring institutes of the conference, in addition to INION RAS, represent an elite of Russian research policy institutions in the fields of science and engineering. They are: the International Center for Innovations in Science, Technology and Education; the Union of Scientific and Engineering Public Associations; the Eurasian Information and Analytical Consortium; the International Institute for Energy Policy and Diplomacy, Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia; and the Russian Technological University (MIREA).

Sergey Ryabkov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, delivered opening greetings to the two-day conference. Describing the historical importance of the BRICS, Ryabkov emphasized its task of technology transfer to the Global South from now to the year 2030, and the nature of the BRICS’ ongoing positive, inclusive cooperation, emphasizing especially the role of young scientists. He noted that in Russia the decade 2021–2031 is officially focused on technological and scientific advance.

‘A New Vision of the World’

A highly polemical greeting—better described as an extensive global strategic briefing—was delivered by Vyacheslav Nikonov, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma. Dr. Nikonov is also the chairman of the Russian World Foundation, and Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration at Moscow State University. He outlined the major role which the BRICS have “in determining the future of the world…. A new vision of the world”; and added “the future of human kind is being decided on the battlefields of Ukraine.”

Nikonov denounced the current policies of Global NATO as “nationalism, chauvinism, racism, Nazism, and colonialism,” stating bluntly that the so-called Western values “are good for nothing.” By contrast, he described the emerging new paradigm of relations among the BRICS: a partnership of civilizations in which no nation has the intention of domination. He said they must “de-colonialize intellectually” and broaden friendly relations among the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), ASEAN, and the nations of Africa and Latin America. He emphasized the development of “especially nuclear energy” as critically important.

Dr. Nikonov’s repeated stress on the principle of each nation’s national sovereignty would have had an historical ring to the large Russian and Chinese expert audience of this conference, who would know that he is both the grandson and a biographer of Vyacheslav Molotov, who served as Foreign Minister of the USSR under Marshal Stalin from 1939 to 1949.

Schiller Institute Addresses Well Received

Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Richard A. Black had the honor of being the fourth and fifth speakers in the 2-day packed schedule involving many scores of expert speakers from many nations. Zepp-LaRouche’s speech was titled, “A New Credit System for the Coming Scientific Revolution.” Black’s presentation was “Prospects for a Fusion Energy Based Economy for BRICS Nations and Partners.” These speeches follow this introduction in EIR.

There was an immediate and important response to these speeches by one of the organizers of the conference, Dr. Irina Yarygina, Research Director of the Russian National Committee on BRICS Research and Head of the Dept. of Economics and Banking of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Yarygina responded to Zepp-LaRouche:

We are really highly appreciative of the participation of the founder and president of the Schiller Institute in our conference. And in spite of political tensions, there is a great possibility for a cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation; and we are looking forward to working in concert. It will be extremely important that you have put your attention to the main problems and challenges we are facing at the moment.

Following Black’s presentation on the future of energy for humanity, Dr. Yarygina responded,

Thank you very much for your profound presentation. I have noticed an interest from our scientists; and if you don’t mind, we’ll share your presentation with our colleagues, taking into consideration that there are some extremely interesting aspects we noticed, which can be sort of a background for further consultations, discussions and so forth. At the same time, I would like to thank you for the proper understanding of the fusion energy-based role—fusion within the coordinates of the BRICS countries—and thank you for your participation within our discussions which have started, but will continue. Thank you very much.