_One of the most interesting aspects of this years St Petersburg International Economic Forum was__the way it undermined commonplaces about a post-Soviet Russia with an economy is on the skids as__a result of sanctions, international vilification, and its overdependence on energy sector revenues._How plausible were the Forums optimistic evocation of a new world economic order, shaped by__a Fourth Industrial Revolution, in which Russia can play an integral role?

Held every year since 1997, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum is commonly known as the Russian version of the Davos World Economic Forum, with which it has a partnership. As in previous years, the 2018 Forum constituted a financial bonanza. According to the officialgovernment statistics, 550 business agreements between Russian and foreign corporations andaffiliates, worth around $US38 billion, were signed on the Forums sidelines. Prominent on the list ofthose countries which have signed up are around 3000 American companies, such as Boeing,General Motors, 600 British companies including BP and Shell, as well as China, Germany, notablythe gigantic company, Bayer, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, allegedly the bank of choice for Russiasoligarchs, and Japan and France, who were this years honoured guest countries.

Altogether the Forum attracted a record 17000 participants from 143 countries. As far as I could tell, mainly through the lens of a business breakfast I co-hosted with the Secretary of Australia RussiaDialogue, Dr Alexey Goncharov, Australians were virtually absent. In any event, they seemed to keepa low profile -understandably perhaps because Russias a long way away, at no 12 it is well down theranking of the worlds largest economies (only a notch higher than our relatively small island), it issubject to limited sanctions by our current Liberal government, and our exports to the countryamount to a mere AUD$589 million as distinct from exports to our no1 trading partner, China,which are worth around AUD$129.5 billion. The significant issue here, is whether to overlookRussias potential as a more substantial trading partner is to marginalise ourselves with regard towhat has also been claimed to be the beginning of a seismic shift in the world economic order towards a Eurasian Century.

Underpinning what seemed to be a very successful trade fair, the Forums message was thatintegral to the countrys enthusiastic embrace of globalised capitalism, of which its membership ofthe WTO has become emblematic, were the governments repeated assurances that Russia wascommitted to financial regulatory systems that were aimed at ensuring an Economy of Trust. Norshould this message be seen as simply a matter of domestic corporate regulation and anti-corruption policies. In his address, President Putin endorsed the view that, though not perfect, theWTO remains the key link to ensuring rules-based international economic stability. Behind suchassurances was the much deeper concern that resonated through the Forum about therise of protectionism, fostered by Trumps illiterate economic policies and general diplomaticstupidity, currently exemplified by the intensifying trade war between the US and China. As Putinput it more politely, if we are to avoid chaos, it is important that we not allow artificial limitations tocurb multilateral trade, finance, manufacturing, or investment. His view was echoed by the IMFsChristine Lagarde who warned of the darkening clouds from the risk of a retreat from globaltrade and multilateral cooperation.

Also resonating through the Forum was the curious concept of Two Worlds, which seemed tosuggest that Western vilification of Russia could be circumvented or ignored. On the one hand, thereare the Russophobic geopolitical Realists, whose focus is on Russias interventions its near abroad,notably in South Ossetia, Georgia and Ukraine, and in Syria and the wider Middle East, onaccusations of hacking, human rights violations, nerve agent poisonings and the downing of MH17,as well as its creation of a new generation, high tech weapons arsenal a world which in thecontext of the Forum barely seemed to rate a mention, even by the IMF.

In radical contrast, there is the other world where everyone benefits from an innovativeinternational economy. From Putins opening speech onward, the Forum was well-stocked with thelanguage of clever, futuristic global capitalism - with a human face. The unipolarity of what has beenseen by many as morally-degraded US foreign policies is being replaced by genuine multipolarity. Aswell as the Russian President, on the podium for the plenary session were French PresidentEmmanuel Macron, Chinas Vice-President, Wang Qishan, Japans Prime Minister, ShinzoAbe, and Christine Lagarde, all of whom gave fulsome endorsements of the advantages of economicengagement with Russias resurgent growth. As the sessions moderator, Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief, John Micklethwaite, quipped, given it was very rare to find such leaders in one room, itcould just be a sign of Donald Trumps unique ability to bring people together.

For instance, Lagardes plenary session speech repeated her exceptionally positive assessment ofRussias financial management. The Kremlin had developed an admirable macroeconomicframework, she said, which had enabled it to weather the tough times throughout both the 2007-8Global Financial Crisis and the imposition of sanctions following its engagement with the events inUkraine and Crimea. Todays Russia had almost no fiscal deficit, a solid current account balance andvery little debt. The IMFs estimated a 2.5% growth in the countrys GDP in 2018/19, revisedupwards from last years figure of 1.5%.

The urbane Shinzo Abe waxed more rhapsodic. If youre going to dream, he said, youdbetter dream big, and invited us to imagine a regional zone of peace and prosperity.Implicit in such a dream is Chinas massive, multi-multi billion dollar reconstruction of theancient Silk Road maritime and overland trade routes with their tentacles reaching north, south andwest across the reaches of Eurasia not least into the Russian Federation. In other words, thedream is not so much about a new World Economic Order as an ambitious drive to relocate andrevitalise the existing international capitalist system.

For Russia, this does not imply a turning away from Old Europe. Rather it has meant a stronger focuson the Asia-Pacific in the pursuit of large-scale investments and the expansion of its export markets,including hopefully in meeting the need for adaptive, innovative technological solutions to theenvironmental ravages caused by industrial revolutions 1-3.

Finally, to those digital technologies and biomedical breakthroughs that constitute the buildingblocks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. When it comes to Russia, Lagarde pointed out,her IMF message is repetitive to continue diversifying out of oil, boosting health and education,reducing market concentration, and integrating more into the global economy. It reminded her ofthe plight of Liz Taylors fifth husband: He knew what he had to do, but how to be original?

_Dr Dorothy Horsfield is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian National Universitys Australian Studies__Institute and a Member of the Steering Committee of its Emeritus Faculty. Her most recent book,_Russia in the Wake of the Cold War Perceptions and Prejudices, was published in 2017 by the__US publisher, Lexington.