PRESS RELEASE
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 underinvestment
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 preeminent
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.
Contacts presse: FD (Financial Dynamics)
Nina Mitz
Leila Salimi / Tiphaine Bannelier
+33 (0) 1 47 03 68 10
fdwpc09@fd.com
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