Seminar on Russia-Ukraine War and the Book Launch

Islamabad March 17, 2023 – The NUST Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS) organized the seminar on “Russia-Ukraine War-The Global Implications” and launched the book, Russia-Ukraine War: Dawn of a New World Order?, written by Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Principal NUST School of Social Sciences and Humanities and Director General NIPS. Eminent thought leaders spoke on the occasion.

Ambassador (Retd) Masood Khalid, Pakistan’s former ambassador to China, delivered the keynote address. His keynote emphasized that the conflict had created new geopolitical and security dynamics leading to the securitization of the NATO countries. In his opinion, the conflict had sharpened bloc politics and unleashed the new arms race between major powers with serious implications for world peace and stability. He remarked that the conflict had also created new demographic and financial challenges for Europe. He stressed that the impact of the conflict on developing countries would also be considerable.

Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan introduced the book which is focused mainly on the financial and economic aspects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He highlighted that it was an attempt to encapsulate the momentous changes taking place in the global financial and economic domains as a result of this major Eurasian conflict. He underscored that the excessive use of economic sanctions as an instrument of conflict had deeply affected the current international relations. He further stressed that the war had quickened the pace of de-dollarization with far-reaching implications for the rise of new major reserve currencies.

General Daya Ratnayake (Retd), Former Sri Lankan Army Chief, in his remarks on the book, commended Dr. Khan’s meticulous multidimensional analysis. He remarked that the conflict would cause long-term changes in the Eurasian geopolitics.

Dr. Lucio Remuzat Renno, Dean of Graduate Studies, the University of Brasilia, remarked that book offered a contextual understanding of the war to the readers.  He further added that the author had skillfully dealt with the financial and economic dimension of the conflict which was given short shrift by popular accounts of the war. He highlighted that BRICS, an important intergovernmental forum, had also been considering different types of payment alternatives.

The senior Russian academic, Dr. Vladimir Kozin, Member Russian Academy of Military Sciences, essentially presented the official Russian position on the conflict during his remarks.

Mr. Danila Ganich, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Pakistan, appreciated the broad analytical sweep of the book and found the conclusions cogent and worthy of consideration. He also considered that Pakistanis in general were reasonable people given to appraising situations objectively.

Moderated by Mr, Amir Yaqub, Director, Operations and Collaboration, NIPS, the seminar was attended by experts from different countries, veteran statesmen, member of diplomatic community in Pakistan, think tank experts, academics, researchers, and students.