Britannia Radio

Hi Harold,

Thought this would be of interest.

David

PRESS RELEASE

World Policy Conference 2009 - Second day summary-2

 

World Policy Conference

Marrakech

30 October 2009 – 1 November 2009

Sunday, 1 November 2009

 

Session 5 – Security

1.         The existing global geopolitical landscape has undergone a complete transformation: the shift in power from the West to Asia.

2.         For the moment, the United States do not seem to accept this new order. This amounts to a denial of reality.

3.         For their part, the emerging powers do not seem ready to assume their new responsibilities. So long as the United States do not recognise their relative loss of power and the emerging powers do not accept their new role within the world power system, global governance will be impossible.

 

Session 6 – Economic and financial regulation

1.         Reducing global imbalances will take time. China must cut its external surplus. In recent years, this surplus has represented over 10% of China’s annual GNP.

2.         China is therefore the key player. It should gradually divert its exchange balances from the United States to the developing countries, particularly in Africa. Similarly, the petroleum exporting states, which also have large surpluses, should move in the same direction.

3.         Global governance is indispensable for supporting these changes. It is particularly crucial to reform the system of member states’ IMF quota shares.

 

Session 7 – International law

1.         International law is a major component of global governance. The sovereign state remains the key actor of such a governance system.

2.         Great progress has been made in this area of law (for example, the establishment of the Dispute Settlement Body –DSB- within the World Trade Organisation).

3.         International law has developed in an uncoordinated way and now covers a very diverse range of fields. This poses a real problem of legal consistency.

4.         For international law to be fully legitimate, it must help to promote a world that is really more just.

 

Session 8 – Health and the environment

1.         In the fields of health and the environment, the problems know no borders because of globalisation. Homogenisation of life styles, in particular, means that developing countries are now beginning to suffer from the same diseases as developed countries.

2.         The first step towards global governance in the fields of health and the environment is the establishment of rigorous processes for evaluating existing systems.

3.         In the fields of health and the environment, as in many others, the state remains the key player.

4.         In order to manage these health and environmental issues effectively, coordination between all social actors is necessary. Socially responsible companies can play an important role by helping to find solutions to these questions.

5.         Spending money is not enough to solve problems. In fact, there is often no positive correlation between the amounts of money spent and improvements obtained.

 

Session 9 - Water, agriculture and food

1.         Water. Water is one of the major challenges facing global governance. By 2050, half of the world’s population could be suffering from water stress. Moreover, agriculture still consumes 70% of the world’s water supply. Water management issues can be addressed only through close cross-border and inter-continental cooperation among all actors. It is essential to clarify the pricing of water.

2.         Agriculture. Thanks to technology, the world of today is capable of feeding the population of the world. One of the notable causes of food-related difficulties has been under-investment in agriculture. Furthermore, in all the parts of the world affected by poverty or crisis situations or wars there are serious agricultural shortages. In the area of agriculture, progress towards global governance must not be achieved through the signing of global agreements, but rather through the adoption of solutions that suit realities on the ground and are initiated by the local populations themselves.

3.         Food. Global governance is also faced with the major challenge of world food security. In our globalised world, diseases spread very easily. In addition, new toxicologies are emerging, many of which are resistant to medicines. The strengthening of food security requires the mobilisation of all institutions and the signing of more multilateral agreements. Agencies charged with managing these issues must also be established.

 

Mini session 2: the role of regions in globalisation

This mini-session focused on the advantages and disadvantages of centralised and decentralised systems of regional participation in global governance.

Mr Jordi Pujol, the former President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, talked about his personal experience, and Mr Moulay Driss Mdaghri, President of the Moroccan Economic Intelligence Association (AMIE), talked about the case of Morocco.

 

About the World Policy Conference 

The World Policy Conference (WPC) is an independent international conference, which is dedicated to improving world governance by promoting high level debate among key decision makers and combining their efforts to serve a global common interest.

Launched in 2008 on the initiative of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), the annual World Policy Conference brings together heads of state and government leaders with a select group of participants (political figures, heads of multinational organizations and large companies, and pre-eminent experts and journalists in the field of world governance) with the aim of developing a collective response to the challenges of our time.

The World Policy Conference is a non-profit organization and it is not aligned with any political, economic or national interests.

 

About the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri)

Created in 1979 and directed by Thierry de Montbrial, the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) is the leading French, independent think-tank dedicated to analysing international issues.

At the heart of a network of the biggest international think-tanks, Ifri’s aim is to bring together leading protagonists in and analysts of international life and encourage independent reflection on contemporary problems. With its Brussels office opened in 2005, Ifri stands out as one of the few French think-tanks positioned at the heart of European debate. Today, Ifri is made up of about 80 staff, 40 of whom are French researchers.

Press contacts: FD (Financial Dynamics)

Nina Mitz

Leila Salimi / Tiphaine Bannelier

+33 (0) 1 47 03 68 10

fdwpc09@fd.com