08:30 – 10:00 | Plenary session 1
Geoeconomics and Development in a Fragmented World
Masood Ahmed
President of the Center for Global Development, former Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the IMF
International development and politics – international politics, geopolitics – have always been connected, so it is not as if this is something new. The question we will explore in this panel is how the relationship is changing and what that means for the way in which we think about development and development cooperation. I would like to propose that there are at least three ways in which that relationship is changing.
Aminata Touré
Representative of the Senegalese National Assembly, former Prime Minister, former President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Senegal
We live in a deeply fragmented world. Even in wealthy countries, people feel left behind, and inequality is a major issue that needs to be addressed. It is clear to me that our concepts of international development need to be re-evaluated, so they reflect the reality of a fragmented society. This is particularly true in Africa, where the future of nutrition will be decided.
Jean-Marie Paugam
Deputy Director General of the WTO
There is not a clear trend towards de-globalization in trade figures. While there have been some trends, such as an apparent slowdown in the rate of openness or global trade on GDP, this can be attributed to various statistical phenomena, such as variations in commodity prices and the composition of GDP. However, there are new forces that will shape globalization and make it more complex, leading to increased transaction costs for businesses and governments.
Kim Heungchong
President of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy
The fragmentation and “blocization” of global economies are now substantial. All of these hinder the stable provision of global public goods that the emerging economies have hitherto utilized for their growth. The digitalization of ODA will be the revolution for increasing the effective distribution of global public goods while responding to the climate crisis through green technology.
Bertrand Badré
Managing Partner and Founder of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital, former Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank Group
The convergence of traditional crises – economic, social, and energy – coupled with fundamental transformation across several domains has created a complex global situation. This transformation is geopolitical, with decarbonization and biodiversity at the forefront of discussions, and technological changes, such as artificial intelligence, rapidly evolving.
Jeffry Frieden
Professor of Government at Harvard University
The highlighted points here are the current geoeconomic and political situation and the constraints that they impose on developing countries. We are in the midst of a fundamental change in the constraints and opportunities faced by developing countries and that this is going to be a very challenging period to come.
Vincent Koen
Deputy Director of Country Studies at the OECD
China’s near closure during the three years of the pandemic has come on top of other factors working in the direction of deglobalization: the Made in China 2025 strategy, which seeks to reduce China’s dependence on foreign technology; Trump’s trade war, with titfor-tat tariff hikes starting in 2018; the US Chips and Science Act and the EU Chips Act; and the US Inflation Reduction Act. Against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions, all this translates into less FDI and knowledge exchange.
Debate
10:00 – 11:30 | Plenary session 2
Is the International Economic Order Collapsing?
Jean-Claude Trichet
Vice Chairman of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, former Chairman of the European Central Bank, Honorary Governor of the Bank of France
The question is whether we should have a new international economic order and I guess the response is yes, because checking what has been said, all speakers, whether President of the US, President of all countries in the world or of China, they all say we need a new international order, implicitly or explicitly a new economic international order. The problem is, which one exactly, which international order that would be new and appropriate for the new world in which we live? Should it be multipolar or unipolar?
Taeho Bark
President of Lee&Ko Global Commerce Institute, former Minister for Trade of Korea
It may not be realistic or even feasible to suddenly cut off all trade between the US and China. I think we should consider limiting the US decoupling from China to a few technologically sensitive sectors, which are directly related to national security.
Yann Coatanlem
CEO of DataCore Innovations LLC, Founder and President of Club Praxis, Board member of GlassView and the Paris School of Economics
It would also be very useful to have some kind of extreme risk measure of the entire world economy, across many dimensions: market risk, credit risk, climate risk, cyber security, operational risk. Nothing new here: let’s reuse the same models and stress tests that are applied to institutions that are deemed too big to fail.
Gabriel Felbermayr
Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), former President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
I think we should have a broader perspective on the institutions that matter, that is not just the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, etc. We must bring in the big international enterprises. We need to mobilize them for the common good, public and civil society, NGOs and many more.
Motoshige Itoh
Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy of Japan
I would like to particularly emphasize the importance of COP’s efforts to address climate change. It is necessary, of course, to address the issue of climate change by promoting initiatives on common human issues with the participation of all the world’s major countries.
John Lipsky
Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), former First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF
I have concluded that renewed focus on a more cooperative and coherent approach toward setting macroeconomic and financial policy is needed to avoid creating new risks of protectionism and reduced efficiency of international financial markets. Such negative developments inevitably would reduce potential growth and increase economic volatility.
Qiao Yide
Vice Chairman and Secretary General of Shanghai Development Research Foundation
In the short-term, I guess it is very important for the US to do more cooperation on macroeconomic policy among other major economies. Also, many countries are currently experimenting for CBDC under the framework of BIS […]. I think it is good to facilitate the transaction and payment system.
Nicolas Véron
Senior Fellow at Bruegel, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics
The Basel III accord on banking capital requirements, leverage, liquidity and stress testing, has been an extraordinary international success. It has been implemented in a more globally consistent way than the previous Basel II accord. Sadly, the European Union is still not compliant but most other jurisdictions are and I think that has led to great resilience in the financial system, in the banking system.
Debate
11:30 – 13:00 | Official Opening
Thierry de Montbrial
Founder and Executive Chairman of Ifri and the WPC
Our ambition remains unchanged. It continues to be to work in favor of a governance that safeguards the chances for a “reasonably open” world, away from the two extremes of, one the one hand, a return to division into blocks that are radically separated by ideology, and on the other hand, the Fukuyama-style “flat world” dreamed of following the Cold War by liberal globalist ideologues.
Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimy
Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates
The path forward in the UAE is clear, it can only happen through constructive dialogue, but we do not meet with each other to simply talk to one another, we must meet to also ensure that we are bringing more to the table by being innovative and inventive and bold. We do have to look at ways where we also do not become echo chambers where we simply repeat and agree with one another about what the path forward needs to look like.
HH Bartholomew I
Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
The ethno-religious fanaticism inculcated in Russian youth stifles prospects for peace and reconciliation. The Orthodox world is divided and this fragmentation is projected onto poor countries, whose people hoped to find relief in the faith. Above all, it harms the Russian Church since sooner or later the people will realize the excesses of a Church subject to objectives that have nothing to do with its original mission.
Haïm Korsia
Chief Rabbi of France
All religions advocate the diversity that alone can lead to unity, which is actually the opposite of uniformity. Uniformity is an illusion, for we can never all be the same. To speak about unity, it is therefore necessary to speak about difference. Religions represent a way for everyone, each in his or her own way, to turn to the same person, to God, without wanting to get rid of others. No possibility of eliminating the faith of others has ever been imagined.
14:30 – 15:30 | Plenary session 3
The Future of Geopolitics and Business: Building Resilience and Adapting to a New Global Reality
Nikolaus Lang
Global Leader for the Global Advantage practice, Managing Director and Senior Partner of Boston Consulting Group
In my view, there are six dimensions in which business leaders must act in the emerging world, embedding geopolitics in corporate decision making, supply chain resilience, investing in people and strategy, innovation, cybersecurity, and accelerating climate action.
Abdullah Al Mazrui
Chairman of the United Arab Emirates Chambers of Commerce and Industry
“Geopolitical changes have a significant impact on the world economic ecosystem, and recent events such as the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic have led to global economic challenges. To minimize geopolitical tensions, businesses can increase their flexibility and resilience, develop practical methodologies for risk management, and adapt to the economic reality.”
Maurice Gourdault-Montagne
Former Ambassador, former Permanent Under Secretary of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Multi-alignment” is the new behavior of countries which behave according to their own interests and India is a champion in that respect. The rest of the world is a swarm of middle-sized countries or smaller countries trying to survive because of inflation, security, grain, pesticides. Around 140 countries are following this pattern.
Helle Kristoffersen
President Strategy & Sustainability and member of the Executive Committee of TotalEnergies
In the recent reports on risks published by insurance companies and risk assessment specialists, we can notice that the top three risks identified across all regions are geopolitics, cybersecurity, and climate change. These three risks are inherently linked, and inaction on climate change will lead to geopolitical tensions, migrations, droughts, water conflicts, and more.
Sam Okwulehie
Chairman and CEO of LATC
Sustainability: protection of our future via sustainable business practices is now undoubtedly important in our global ecosystem and could be the natural resilience build that global supply chains require today and tomorrow.
Debate
15:30 – 16:30 | Plenary session 4
Innovative Leaders: Climate Crisis and Circular Economy
Lucia Sinapi-Thomas
Executive Director of CG
The climate warming limit translates into a need to drastically curb carbon emissions by the middle of the century and at this point, some would say that failing national commitments to make it happen, the next-zero by 2050 remains aspirational. As a matter of fact, adapting to climate change comes with a cost.
Andrew Brown
Junior Environmental Policy Analyst at the OECD
We break circular economy down into three particular parts. We think about efficiency, how we can use natural resources more efficiently and get more economic productivity out of a certain amount of resource use. How we can slow our resource use, meaning how we can use and keep products at the highest value possible for the longest period of time possible. Then we also want to close our economic systems.
Yim Hyo-sung
Vice President of the Corporate Strategy Center of Hyosung Corporation
The point I want to make here is that there are many recycled products out there already. The technology is there but the problem is, is there a demand for these products currently in the market? Sadly, the answer is no because no one is willing to pay for it.
Bruno Langlois
Business Development and Partnerships Director at Carbios
It is interesting to see that we have multiplied the quantity of waste by 12 in the last 50 years, when the population has been multiplied by less than three. We are obviously going in the wrong direction in terms of producing more and more at lower cost, making objects with lesser value that are quickly thrown away.
Lívia Ribeiro de Souza
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Mimicrete Ltd.
In the past 10 years or so at Cambridge, we have been investigating self-healing technology for cementitious materials, mimicking what happens in nature. If there is a scratch on a tree or our own skin, our bodies and nature have that intrinsic self-healing capacity. We can learn from nature and apply this ability in our infrastructure.
Florent Andrillon
Global Head of Sustainability Services at Capgemini Invent
A lot of the circular economy principles were just principles and were not easy to implement in the bast beyond burning waste to produce heat or energy. Now, with the development of a lot of new technology and the fact that everything is connected, it is possible to develop circularity.
Yim Hyo-sung
Vice President of the Corporate Strategy Center of Hyosung Corporation
I think government subsidies are undoubtedly the most important factor going forward to bring down the cost of hydrogen and make it affordable for customers.
Andrew Brown
Junior Environmental Policy Analyst at the OECD
I think that the average citizen’s first interaction with circular economy may be with the public sector in terms of their municipality, which are often doing recycling systems, so this starts at a very local stage. However, there are also policies at the national level as well as at international level that are quite important for circular economy.
Lívia Ribeiro de Souza
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Mimicrete Ltd.
It takes time to implement a new technology on a construction, and we are working with a company in the UK for investigate the pathways for this implementation. Currently, we need a departure from a standard, which can take from a couple of weeks to a couple of years.
Bruno Langlois
Business Development and Partnerships Director at Carbios
To move to circularity what is important, if I can say that, is that we square the circle. There are several issues everywhere, we need industrial strengths, investment in biotechnology, which is also close to the chemical sector at the level we see in the pharmaceutical industry, for instance.
Debate
16:30 – 17:30 | Plenary session 5
The Sahel and West Africa: Geopolitics and Geoeconomics
Thierry de Montbrial
Founder and Executive Chairman of Ifri and the WPC
To shed some light on the subject, we will address the economy, social problems and security issues, in that order. Since many analysts and commentators posit that the social and economic situation is the root cause of insecurity, we will discuss them first.
Romuald Wadagni
Senior Minister in charge of Economy and Finance of Benin
So we focused our efforts on laws and texts to have good governance and on the formation of human capital: training young people. With well-trained, well-educated young people who can use their hands, you create the conditions for better governance and less corruption.
Alain Tchibozo
Chief Economist of the West African Development Bank (BOAD)
Moreover, some people perceive other problems as being more urgent, such as food security. This is a complex issue. Output is insufficient; agricultural productivity is very low.
General Francis A. Behanzin
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Réseau mondial des professionnels de sécurité et de défense pour la prévention et la lutte contre le terrorisme, former Commissioner Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
The common denominator of all these rebellions lies in their denunciation of the inequalities in development between the regions of the South and the North in the countries concerned and the inability of the states to provide for the needs of the populations of the North.
Nshuti Manasseh
Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in charge of East African Community of Rwanda
I must admit that sometimes bilateral engagements are more effective than multilateral ones but the two kind of work together, so you can have a blend of the two. Bilateral engagements can be effective because we respond in time to a problem we understand. Multilateral engagements take time with bureaucracy, when the problem is not bureaucratic, so we need a blend of the two types of interventions.
Debate
17:30 – 19:00 | Plenary session 6
The Rest of the World Facing the US-China Rivalry
Douglas Paal
Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former Senior Director of Asian Affairs and Special Assistant to the President in the US National Security Council
I would propose this is a good time if China wants to changeits tactics. We are seeing, in various subtle ways, China pulling back on its aggressiveness in the South China Sea, the Senkaku Islands. They are not changing fundamental positions, but they are being less aggressive. Maybe that will be true on the Indian line of actual control as well.
John Andrews
Contributing Editor to The Economist and Project Syndicate
There are only 20 countries in the UN who name the US as their number one trading partner. You take how many countries name China as their lead trading partner, it is at least 120. If push comes to shove, what choice will countries make?
Jean-Pierre Cabestan
Senior Researcher Emeritus at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) attached to the French Research Institute on East Asia (IFRAE) of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Professor Emeritus at Hong Kong Baptist University
Another trend which has taken place for some years – even before these recent tensions in the Taiwan Strait – is the fact that the European Union itself has moved away from a kind of naïve and full engagement with China to a much more balanced China policy. We know the three pillars of this policy now – one is economic cooperation; the other one is economic competition; and the third one is the idea that China and we are systemic rivals.
Renaud Girard
Senior Reporter and International Columnist at Le Figaro
Obviously, France does not want to be stuck in the middle of the rivalry between China and the United States, the collateral victim of some Thucydides trap. That is certain. Moreover, France realizes that it no longer carries enough demographic, economic, trade or military weight to be a major player in the great global game.
Yuichi Hosoya
Professor of International Politics at Keio University in Tokyo
As the world’s third largest economy, Japan is considered a frontline state, vulnerable in the event of a war between the two great powers. However, Japan has close relationships with both countries and has developed two strategies to respond to this difficult question.
Lee Hye Min
Senior Advisor of KIM & CHANG, former G20 Sherpa of Korea
The intensifying and expanding tension between the US and China is a very serious issue to all of the world, but much more serious to Korea, because of history and geography. The international political order that Korea wants to pursue is non exclusive and we highly value cooperation with every country of the world, including China.
Samir Saran
President of the Observer Research Foundation of New Delhi
The lure of money, the lure of return, has made Europe incompetent and incapable of taking a unified position against China. If you think you are going to see a Russia style mobilization against China, we are all living in La La Land. Europe is the weak link for the US if it has to mobilize any sort of consortium against China.
Wang Jisi
President of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University in Beijing, Peking University Boya Chair Professor
Europeans share a negative opinion of China regarding human rights, but Europe will maintain its strategic autonomy vis-à-vis China in economic and technological terms. In terms of ideology and geopolitics, the European Union and the United Kingdom will turn to the United States.
Panelists debate
Debate
19:30 | Dinner Debate
Kevin Rudd
President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, former Prime Minister of Australia
Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh is a significant one because China has embarked over the last five to seven years on an advanced economic diplomacy towards the Gulf states in particular. There is one background point, however, which is that China has a much longer standing relationship with Iran.
Debate
08:00 – 09:30 | Plenary session 7
The Future of EU and European Security After the Ukraine War
Ali Aslan
International TV Presenter and Journalist
This is one of the most pertinent and timely sessions of this year’s World Policy Conference. The title is, “The Future of the EU and European Security After the Ukraine War”. I wish we could sit here today and speak about the state of the world after the war in Ukraine, unfortunately we are not quite there. However, I could not have asked for a better panel and more esteemed speakers to dive into this very timely and important subject.
Peter Beyer
Member of the German Bundestag, Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation of the Federal Government
I do not buy that we are still lagging behind. Six months ago, we should have made the right political decisions quickly, like delivering heavy weaponry and air space defense, which we have now done.
Bogdan Klich
Senator in the Polish Parliament, Chairman of the Foreign and EU Affairs Committee in the Polish Senate
There are also two more operational goals that are important not only for Ukraine but also for the European and Atlantic communities, I would say the destabilization of the European Union and the paralysis of NATO. They were expressed just before the war began in Ukraine, in the famous ultimatum from President Putin to the West.
Hubert Védrine
Founder of Hubert Védrine Conseil, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France
A West that shies away from assessing its policies in the 1990s is a West to be worried about. What military circles call “feedback” is essential.
Zaki Laïdi
Personal Advisor to the High Representative and Vice President of the Commission EEAS
We never had a Ukrainian policy, our Ukrainian policy was a by-product of our Russian policy. That led to a certain number of uncertainties, mistakes, and hesitations, including the question of NATO, which I am not personally in favor of in the case of Ukraine, but we did not give a clear precise indication.
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Former President of Mongolia
The global implications mean that the frontline of the Ukrainian is much wider, it is the frontline between the free and totalitarian worlds, and it even goes across Africa and Asia, everywhere. If Ukraine loses, I think it will encourage the autocrats but if it wins, those autocrats will be discouraged.
Peter Beyer
Member of the German Bundestag, Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation of the Federal Government
Support is high but there is certainly that concern. We not only have energy prices shooting through the roof and, I have to say, it is only just the beginning, next winter, by the end of next year, will be much more expensive. […] Taken together, this is really a challenge for any government, be it on a Federal or more regional or local level, to hold the side together.
Bogdan Klich
Senator in the Polish Parliament, Chairman of the Foreign and EU Affairs Committee in the Polish Senate
It is much better than at the beginning of the war. It means that there is a growing understanding in Europe, not just in some parts of Europe, of the role of Ukraine and the principle that the security of Europe depends on Ukraine’s independence. The security of the European Union, at least, depends on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Hubert Védrine
Founder of Hubert Védrine Conseil, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France
About the future, I think Westerners, and Europeans, will stand their ground, and therefore, Putin cannot win. However, I do not think the Americans will help the Ukrainians attack Crimea, although I may be wrong about that of course. I believe that after various twists and turns there will be a stalemate.
Zaki Laïdi
Personal Advisor to the High Representative and Vice President of the Commission EEAS
We need to have a strong European pillar without NATO capable of dealing with what the French military said, to be prepared for a war of high intensity in Europe. This war is going to cause a sea-change in the perception and the strategic perception of our security, but we do indeed need to take more responsibility.
Debate
09:30 – 10:30 | Plenary session 8
The Relevance of “Indo-Pacific” as a Geostrategic Concept
Thierry de Montbrial
Founder and Executive Chairman of Ifri and the WPC
The Indo Pacific concept emerged relatively recently and the key question I would like to ask the four panelists is, is this new geopolitical concept meant to represent something like an alliance against China? Most people who partly think the answer is yes, would publicly say no. My question is simple: what do we mean by Indo-Pacific?
Hiroyuki Akita
Commentator of Nikkei, Japan
Then, the highest and most difficult approach is the sharing values approach. Under this approach, likeminded countries that can share values, maybe from the Western point of view, the value of democracy, and will cooperate with each other and try to promote common values.
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan
Executive Chairman of CyQureX Systems Pvt. Ltd., former Senior Advisor and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India (Manmohan Singh
From India’s standpoint, it is the rapid pace at which China is pursuing its version of the Revolution in Military Affairs, largely driven by Artificial Intelligence Systems, that is cause for real concern for countries in the region. […] China’s disregard for international covenants, as also its willingness to use force to achieve its objectives in the South China Sea, are the reasons compelling India to revisit some of its earlier options.
Douglas Paal
Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former Senior Director of Asian Affairs and Special Assistant to the President in the US National Security Council
APEC had its moment in the 1990s and then we went into the period of globalization, and we did not think so much in terms of Southeast Asia, East Asia or Africa, we thought in terms of movement of capital, global supply chains, seeking opportunities.
Panelists debate
Yim Sung-joon
Senior Advisor at Lee International IP & Law Group, former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, former National Security Advisor to President Kim Dae-jung
From the beginning, the US sought to persuade South Korea to join the FOIP framework, but South Korea refrained from officially engaging in it. South Korea is by location an Indo-Pacific country and a middle power that wields influence as a strong democracy, unchanging ally to the US and the 3rd largest economy in East Asia.
Debate
10:30 – 12:15 | Plenary session 9
Space Governance: The Implications of Globalized Access to Space Technologies
Patrick Nicolet
Founder and Managing Partner of Linebreak Ltd., former Group Chief Technology Officer of Capgemini
The pace at which space technologies are advancing is unprecedented in the history of spacefaring, and the democratized access to such technologies implies that not only a handful of prominent actors are involved and competing, but that corporations, civil society and a plethora of new nations are now in the race too.
Amer Al Ghafri
Senior Director of the Space Engineering Department at the Mohamed bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai
The UAE looks at space as an important and critical sector driving the bigger goal, which is science and technology here in the UAE.
Kazuto Suzuki
Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo
Today, space 2.0 is all about the democratization and everyone is now a participant in space activities, including the UAE. The second is the commercialization. The third aspect is the militarization, with space now being used for military purposes and commercial services like Starlink also being used for military services.
Daniel Andler
Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne University, member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Philosopher
While an update of the Five Treaties and international cooperation on such problems as debris and orbit management might help, a much more resolute ethical deliberation is required, one which involves all stakeholders, one in which all relevant factors, including the uncertainties and risks, are taken in due consideration.
Meir Sheetrit
Former member of the Israeli Knesset, former Minister of Intelligence Affairs and the Committee of Atomic Energy, former Minister of the Interior
A new invention from an Israeli company aims to clean up space. With an investment of between USD 100 million and USD 200 million, the first idea was to send a satellite that would push the parts away into deep space. Then they had a better idea to build a satellite that will move close to every satellite that has stopped working and recharge it so that it can work for many more years without just being space junk.
Patrick Trinkler
Founder and CEO of CYSEC
I will start by presenting space as a 3.0 evolution not 2.0. From my point of view, it is really the finalization of the digitalization of the world, to give access to the Internet to two to three billion people, to be able to connect a billion IoT devices in the world.
Geoffrey Bouquot
CTO and Group Vice President Strategy & External Relations at Valeo, former Technical Advisor for Industrial Affairs in the Cabinet of the French Minister of Defense
The blurred frontiers between the civilian and the military activities is very important when it comes to IoT devices and I think that is where we are all heading with the ownership of constellations by some private companies raising the problems you already mentioned. Therefore, independence of technology is still the new frontier, even in space.
François Barrault
Founder and Chairman of FDB Partners, Chairman of IDATE DigiWorld
I think satellites present fantastic opportunities because we have moved from defense and survey, to now giving everybody access. The solution will be a kind of hybrid between fiber, 4G and 5G and access to satellite and maybe, I will achieve my dream of having everybody in the world connected like water, food and electricity.
13:30 – 14:00 | Plenary session 10
Conversation avec Dmytro Kuleba
Dmytro Kuleba
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
One of the outcomes of this war will be full integration of Ukraine into the European Union and NATO because we have to think strategically. Yes, the country is at war now and it is hard to imagine us joining NATO right now, but the future of Euro Atlantic security is being decided on the battlefield in Ukraine, and after the war, Ukraine will have one of the most capable armies in the world and definitely the most capable army in Europe, taking into account its combat experience, morale, and military equipment. Therefore, it would be very unwise for NATO to ignore or not to accommodate such a contributor to Euro Atlantic security.
14:00 – 15:00 | Plenary session 11
Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia Facing the Ukraine War
Tatiana Kastouéva-Jean
Research Fellow and Director of the Russia/NIS Center of Ifri
Ukraine is the first victim of Russian aggression, but other neighboring countries are also suffering from shocks at different levels. I think about the flood of migrants, and I think about energy pressures from Russia.
Question 1
“Olga Rosca The post Soviet or former Soviet Union, that is the parts that we, Moldova, have not chosen and we do not necessarily see that it defines us now. Therefore, the preference is that we use the present and the future to define ourselves, so I would rather hear, instead of post Soviet Moldova, an EU hopeful Moldova, candidate for EU membership Moldova, reform oriented Moldova, western leaning Moldova or, shall I say, freedom loving Moldova.”
Question 2
“Lasha Darsalia Unfortunately, the situation on the ground is not even static but is fast deteriorating regarding the humanitarian and human rights situation. People who are living on the ground literally are used as hostages to put pressure on the government of Georgia. The situation on the ground is, therefore, deteriorating fast, and this is not only about the occupied territories. We see increased pressure on Georgia, and all of these hybrid tools, which were previously implied, have been brought to bear on the rest of Georgia as well.”
Question 3
“Roman Vassilenko In Kazakhstan we do have Russian channels available, but so is Euronews and so is the BBC and so is CNN. However, I will tell you that in Kazakhstan the media itself works in Kazakh and also in Russian, in addition to 10 other languages of some other ethnic groups, such as Germans who live in Kazakhstan. The challenge for us, therefore, is to strengthen the informational independence, if you will,”
Question 4
“Lasha Darsalia I just want to say that Georgia is strongly supporting Ukraine generally, but one of the dimensions of that is the help being given by the government of Georgia to the Ukrainian refugees who are in Georgia. It is several tens of thousands, which is actually a small amount, and there are different programs to support them, including not only physically supporting them, but, for example, several Georgian schools are operating in Ukrainian now for the children who are from Ukraine.”
Question 5
“Olga Rosca European integration and European membership is an absolute priority for the current government. This is also the mandate that the government got from the citizens, so we spare no effort to press on with the reforms despite all the challenges that I have described before. We are aware that there are no shortcuts. We are committed to hard work. We are committed to reforms.”
Question 6
“Roman Vassilenko If we talk about where we stand, we stand for democracy, for the market economy, for the international rule of law, international law primarily, written down, clearly spelled out, and that is also, by the way, a difference with the so called international rules based order. We stand for international law, a law that is written, that is agreed upon by everybody. We also stand for international cooperation.”
Debate
15:00 – 15:30 | Plenary session 12
Conversation with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak
Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak
Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Mubadala
Today, the UAE is home to three of the world’s largest and lowest-cost solar plants. Almost 25% of our power needs are met through clean energy, and we have clean energy projects spanning 70 countries.
15:30 – 16:00 | Plenary session 13
Conversation with Anwar Gargash
Anwar Gargash
Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates
I think it is very reductionist and very simplistic to say the UAE is neutral on Ukraine. The UAE is not neutral on Ukraine. The UAE is affected by the crisis in Ukraine and is trying to find the right balance between our principles and the necessity for a political solution and an end to the Ukraine war.
16:00 – 17:00 | Plenary session 14
Critical Raw Materials – How to Secure the Crucial Resources for our Industries?
Friedbert Pflüger
Director of the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the University of Bonn, Founding Partner of Strategic Minds Company GmbH
We need diversification and that is even more true when it comes to lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, vanadium, and rare earths, which we all need for the devices we need daily in our modern lives. Therefore, this subject has an enormous geopolitical meaning. If we are not able to secure affordable, reliable raw materials, our industries cannot survive.
Philippe Chalmin
Founder of Cercle Cyclope, Professor at Paris-Dauphine University, Consultant for various International Organisations (OECD, EEC, UNCTAD)
For a long time, rare earths were not rare, and the center of rare earth metallurgy was in France. Today, we have all exported, delocalized our environmental problems and, of course, you know now about 80% of rare earths are produced in China.
Jonathan Cordero
Head of Corporate Development at Eurasian Resources Group
Where states and national policymakers find their national boundaries, global market participants need to take responsibility for protecting our environment, for enforcing human rights, for the host communities we operate in, in short transparent and responsible sourcing cradle to grave.
Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde
Non-Executive Director at Norge Mining, former State Secretary for the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway
The EU has historically imported most of its phosphate from Russia and the invasion of Ukraine has created an urgent requirement to prevent dependency on Russia. There could not be any better time to develop the phosphate industry in a stable environment in the heart of Europe, in Norway. It will create security of supply in Europe and beyond, thereby contributing to food security and positively reflecting thousands of miles away.
Peter Handley
Head of the Energy-Intensive Industries and Raw Materials Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
We will focus on the raw materials that are particularly strategic for the technologies the EU has decided it needs to develop fast for the energy transition, digitalization, and security. We want to encourage EU Member States to do much more systematic exploration.
Debate
17:00 – 19:30 | Parallel Workshops
Workshop #1 – Finance and Economy
Jean-Claude Trichet
Vice Chairman of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, former Chairman of the European Central Bank, Honorary Governor of the Bank of France
What is the likelihood of central banks of the advanced economies succeeding in regaining control of inflation? […] Are we correctly assessing the divergences between the advanced economies, the developing world, and emerging countries? What about the fragility of the developing countries and the probability of major disruptive issues? What is the likelihood of a financial crisis triggered by major market corrections?
Serge Ekué
President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD)
The first [key policy objective] one is addressing food insecurity, which I think is a major threat we have to deal with in a region where the median age of the population is 20, and we all know that our population doubles every 25 years. That is a real threat in the context you previously described.
Raed Charafeddine
Central and Commercial Banker, former First Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon
The Lebanese economy is facing stressful conditions for the third year in a row, resulting from the multi-dimensional crisis it has been going through, aggravated by the global and regional economic turbulences. Lebanon’s crisis emerged after a decade of regional turmoil on the one hand and the difficulties in public finances in terms of deficit in the budget and the exacerbation of public debt and its service on the other hand.
Jeffry Frieden
Professor of Government at Harvard University
I think we face a very difficult time in the making of economic policy where monetary policy seems to have no choice but to focus on fighting inflation and fiscal policy that could dampen or soften some of the blows of that restrictive monetary policy is tightly constrained.
Akinari Horii
Special Advisor and member of the Board of Directors of the Canon Institute for Global Studies, former Assistant Governor of the Bank of Japan
China’s exports to the US stopped growing, but at the same time exports of Korea, India, and ASEAN countries are increasing. […] At the same time, US exports to China have continued to increase, and so has US direct investment in China. As long as it is in the interests of American companies to do business in Chinese markets, globalization seems unlikely to become deglobalization soon.
Kyung-wook Hur
President of the Korean Bretton Woods Club, Chairman of the Board of the Korea Center for International Finance, former Vice Minister for the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, former Senior Economist for the IMF
When you have seen such a big rollercoaster movement on the foreign exchange markets, I still think there must be some more structured way for non-convertible currency countries to have reasonable expectations of access to the Fed, which is still missing. The last one was given unilaterally during the pandemic so that may be something that is missing from international financial architecture up until now.
Pierre Jacquet
President of the Global Development Network, Professor at the École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
What I would like to emphasize is that speculative crises are not new. What is new, in each crises, is that it has specific short-term causes that will differ from the previous one. What strikes me is the continuity of the profound reasons for crises, which are very basic: they result from periods of overinvestment followed by periods of excessive disillusion.
André Lévy-Lang
Founder and Chairman of the Louis Bachelier Institute
The fact that finance is used as a weapon has implications in terms of systemic risk, the behavior of financial institutions and the markets, and it is not clear to us, and we are working on that, how finance in general can support and make it feasible to accomplish these huge investments without creating systemic risk, breaking the system of creating major, unmanageable situations.
John Lipsky
Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), former First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF
We have experienced a period of slow growth, low investment, lower than anticipated labor force participation and at the same time, unexpectedly strong corporate profits. That combination has been associated with sustained, unexpectedly low real interest rates.
Jean-Claude Meyer
Vice Chairman International of Rothschild & Cie
Central bankers live in a tragic dilemma because their measures have adverse collateral effects, – such as medicines for doctors –, and therefore fine tuning is difficult for them. Their key question is how much can they increase interest rates to reduce inflation and avoid a recession.
Jean-Claude Trichet
Vice Chairman of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, former Chairman of the European Central Bank, Honorary Governor of the Bank of France
The fact that we have the same level of underlying inflation, core inflation on both sides of the Atlantic and not the same level of headline, underlines what many of us have said, namely that there are differences between the US and Europe because in Europe it is very much more of a supply problem and in the US more of a demand problem.
Debate
Workshop #2 – Energy and Environment
Olivier Appert
Chairman of France Brevets, Scientific Advisor of the Center for Energy & Climate of Ifri, former President of the French Energy Council
The European Union rapidly took embargo measures on coal and oil. We may question the real impact of these measures on the Russian economy. The coal and oil markets are both deep and Russia has been able to redirect its exports. For example, India increased its imports of oil from Russia by a factor of 10. However, the situation is fundamentally different for natural gas. Clearly, therefore, in the near future we may anticipate geopolitical tension on the oil and gas market.
Narendra Taneja
Chairman of the Independent Energy Policy Institute of New Delhi, Founder President of the World Energy Policy Summit (WEPS)
Now we are even thinking of looking at using LNG wherever we can. What we basically need to look at are energy transitions. Transitions: it may depend on your situation, your reality on the ground, your circumstances. In Germany they may do it faster. Good luck to them. In Norway they may do it even faster. However, in India and some other economies it may take longer.
Florent Andrillon
Global Head of Sustainability Services at Capgemini Invent
Green hydrogen is on everyone’s lips. As you know, it is very trendy. There is a lot of money out there. It will probably not reach the level required to decarbonize the economy, which is 15% – we are not on that path – one of the reasons being the lack of green electricity available. That means that large amounts of green electricity will need to be imported from other regions, so the geopolitics will have to change a bit because clearly some regions will be in a new position of exporting energy through the hydrogen carrier.
Igor Yurgens
Scientific Director of MGIMO Centre for Sustainable Development and ESG Transformation
Russia actually has to start renewables from scratch. We had such cheap gas, oil and coal that we didn’t have motivation to use other sources. However, I would say that the prerequisites are all there. Yakutia, which is in the extreme north of Russia and which has temperatures of minus 40 degrees in winter, has more sunny days than France, for example. Russia is a pretty solar area. Winds are no problem at all and of course, plenty of water is available. From this point of view, 20% of the world production of hydrogen was the target for the Russian Federation according to this decarbonization plan.
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega
Director of the Center for Energy & Climate of Ifri
We mentioned the electricity systems. I mean, frankly, with the inflation that we have, with the money all going to the US, are we realistically going to be able to lay out all the solar panels that we are talking about? I doubt it. However, what is for sure is that even the numbers and the trajectory we are on – that is 2 trillion in investments by 2030 versus 1.2 last year – are two times less than what is needed for a 1.5-degree trajectory. In any case, therefore, we are missing the targets, but then what are the consequences of failure?
Workshop #3 – Africa
Robert Dossou
President of the African Association of International Law, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin, former President of the Constitutional Court of Benin
The first need was to build a nation-state and then the new societies’ socio-economic foundations. Sixty years on, has the mission been accomplished? What are the challenges? Nothing is out of bounds.
Alain Antil
Director of the Sub-Saharan Africa Center of Ifri
There is indeed the question of international terrorism. Nonetheless we can read these revolts as uprisings of the peripheries against the political centers. We can read them as revolts of the countryside against the cities. We can read them as uprisings of yesterday’s dominated […].
Cheikh Tidiane Gadio
President of the Institute for Pan-African Strategies, Peace-Security-Governance, Special Envoy of the OIF, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal
The other big problem today is that there are two foxes in the chicken coop. There are the terrorists, but there are also our Russian friends. Things must be called by their name. Our Russian friends have entered the game, almost without our knowing it. They have occupied the Internet. They have sometimes activated some of their local supporters, who have abundantly used the weapon of fake news.
Elisabeth Guigou
Founding President of Europartenaires, former President of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, former President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly
What should the European Union do to help Africa better? First, I think it should devote as much attention and as many priorities to Africa as it does to Eastern Europe. This is obviously very difficult. It has become even harder since the fall of the Berlin Wall. There was already an imbalance well before the war in Ukraine, but the war has made it even worse.
Aminata Touré
Representative of the Senegalese National Assembly, former Prime Minister, former President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Senegal
Statistics show that if Africa’s 54 countries were taken as a whole, it would be the world’s eighth largest economy. This means that Africa generates wealth and could generate more if we managed to make our voices heard.
Juliette Tuakli
Chief Executive Officer of CHILDAccra Medical, United Way Worldwide Chair Immediate Past (IP), Mercy Ships Africa Ambassador, Medical Director
The impact of inequitable distribution of energy and shortages of energy on health and education is considerable in our continent. An estimated 600 million people in Africa have had no experience of electricity, that is half of the entire population of Africa. In addition, there is growing recognition of our vulnerability to climate shocks and the impact on the livelihoods of our youth, both present and in the future.
Lionel Zinsou
Co-Founder and Co-Chair of SouthBridge, Chairman of Terra Nova think tank, former Prime Minister of Benin, former Chairman of PAI Partners
The percentages show that progress is being made. Only half the population is still in darkness. Only half of people give birth with flashlights. Half of the children are no longer poisoned by kerosene lamps. But the number of people without power has risen from two to six million.
Debate
20:00 | Gala Dinner with Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
President of the French Constitutional Council, President of the COP 21, former Prime Minister of France
COP21 was a success, not only thanks to French diplomacy but because there was an extraordinary conjunction between what I call the “three planets”: the scientific planet – scientists, engineers –, the civil society planet – cities, regions, public opinion, private companies, financial institutions – and the governments planet.
Debate
08:00 – 09:00 | Reports from parallel workshops
Pierre Jacquet
President of the Global Development Network, Professor at the École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
Our debate this year has pointed to some differences between the United States and Europe, with the demand component of the inflationary shock more potent in the United States, while in Europe inflation seems more supply driven, notably given Europe’s dependency on Russian energy. It was observed that monetary policy is a poor instrument to react to supply driven inflationary shocks because it does not act on supply but can only restrain demand to adjust to the new supply equation.
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega
Director of the Center for Energy & Climate of Ifri
Another point that was raised was how we democratize global energy and climate governance. The view was expressed that this governance was weighted towards the North and that some of the leading institutions are based in the North, driven notably by the OECD or the IEA. Obviously, there is need for rebalancing there and there was a consensus that somehow that needs to be democratized and more dialogue was needed among all the stakeholders. The idea of setting up an energy security council was raised, which is quite interesting although if you start thinking in practical terms you immediately come up with a number of questions and issues.
Robert Dossou
President of the African Association of International Law, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin, former President of the Constitutional Court of Benin
La solution est qu’il faut massivement investir sur les jeunes, dans la formation, dans les débouchés, mais également investir sur les femmes. Cette double donnée est essentielle. Pour investir sur les jeunes et sur les femmes, il faut nécessairement des capitaux et des garanties pour pouvoir orienter les investissements vers le continent africain. C’est en cela que la promotion du secteur privé sur le continent a été soulignée comme une nécessité.
09:00 – 10:00 | Plenary session 15
Perspectives on Covid-19 and Other Pandemic Threats
Michel Kazatchkine
Special Advisor to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Senior Fellow at the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva
The pandemic is not over. As we speak, hospitalizations are increasing again, at least in Europe and the US. The pandemic continues to have a profound impact on lives and livelihoods as economies slowly begin to recover in at least the wealthiest countries, but still falter in low-income countries.
Antoine Flahault
Director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, Deputy Director of the Swiss School of Public Health, former Founding Director of EHESP
Fine particle air pollution is an important determinant of Covid-19 and its severity. The role of fine particles in outdoor air pollution, whether from fossil fuel combustion or desert sands, was already recognized in influenza epidemics. It has been shown to be a major determinant of Covid-19 epidemics, increasing contamination and severity of infection.
Juliette Tuakli
Chief Executive Officer of CHILDAccra Medical, United Way Worldwide Chair Immediate Past (IP), Mercy Ships Africa Ambassador, Medical Director
Vaccine production facilities were developed. There were some existing facilities available, but they have been considerably strengthened and enhanced across six African countries. We have 12 facilities based primarily in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Rwanda and South Africa and these have been particularly effective and strong in their output.
Maha Barakat
Director General of the Frontline Heroes Office and Senior Advisor at Mubadala
The UAE started clinical trials on vaccination as early as summer 2020, by September there was emergency use of vaccination and by June 2022, the United Arab Emirates had achieved 100% vaccination of its target groups. I think this is a key component of a country’s ability to reduce hospitalizations and death.
Qiao Yide
Vice Chairman and Secretary General of Shanghai Development Research Foundation
Transparency should be the first principle of dealing with an unknown virus or X disease in the future. By this I mean giving an alert on the virus, gene sequence, evolution and the possible harms to human beings and all this information should be released to the public, government departments and the CDC on time.
Christian Bréchot
President of the Global Virus Network, Senior Associate Dean for Research in Global Affairs and Associate Vice President for International Partnerships and Innovation at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, former President of Institut Pasteur
The coalition for epidemic preparedness and innovation has been a progress for vaccines but still not sufficient for several reasons and we lack support for antivirals and diagnostics. In fact, I personally believe that the importance of diagnostics has been very much underappreciated in this Covid-19 crisis.
Debate
10:00 – 11:00 | Plenary session 16
Global Governance and Public Health
Michel Kazatchkine
Special Advisor to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Senior Fellow at the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva
As the pandemic progressed, health moved from being a sort of soft power agenda to becoming a critical economic and security issue, that took up last parts of the deliberations of regional summits, like the European Council, the G20, the G7, the World Trade Organization. No meeting of the G7, G20 or the European Council in the last two years did not include or had the issue of health as a dominant component.
Anders Nordström
Ambassador for Global Health at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden
The agenda needs to change. I do not think we need a global platform for vaccines in the future, we need stronger regional platforms, but we still need global cooperation to share information, the data, but also ways of working, the management, the flow of then access to products. We need to rethink the global functions based on the fact that we have stronger regions today.
Lionel Zinsou
Co-Founder and Co-Chair of SouthBridge, Chairman of Terra Nova think tank, former Prime Minister of Benin, former Chairman of PAI Partners
While the use of vaccines has become widespread in Africa, Africa produces only 1% of them. While recently there have been major strides in treatments and the use of drugs, a record-breaking 95% of those drugs are imported. On the other hand, the WHO says that Africa accounts for 40% of the volume of counterfeit drugs in the world, a topic that would bring us into a discussion on organized crime.
Haruka Sakamoto
Project Researcher at the Department of Global Health Policy of the University of Tokyo, Senior Fellow at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
In the field of pharmaceuticals, which is a major industry for many countries, there is a desire to continue to protect the industry through intellectual property, but there are also moves to restrain rule-making by China in this field. How to handle IP and technology transfer, especially in times of emergency, will continue to be an important issue to consider.
Farida Al Hosani
Official Spokesperson for Health sector of the United Arab Emirates
Talking about innovation and research is very important because we should not stop in terms of accelerating research. Time was critical during Covid and our governance in terms of research approvals and prioritizations are really very slow and do not match the global needs.
Jacques Biot
Board member and Advisor to companies in the field of digital transformation and artificial intelligence, former President of the École Polytechnique in Paris
Another level of international governance pertains to intellectual property, this one comes under heavy fire, I will not elaborate on related issues today in the interest of time, but this subject will resurface relentlessly in the future. Going down the geographical scale, we have to recognize the fact that all countries, albeit along very different models, do maintain the principle of a national health governance.
11:00 – 12:15 | Plenary session 17
Food Security in a Fragmented World
Jean-Michel Severino
President of Investisseurs & Partenaires, former Director General of the French Development Agency, former Vice President for Asia at the World Bank
There is an underlying global fear of a shortage of production in the world and I think we will address whether this is fantasy or reality, especially in the long run. It also shows how political this market remains. It is not just about exchanging goods it is about being in international relations.
Máximo Torero Cullen
Chief Economist and Assistant Director General for the Economic and Social Development Department of the FAO
Addressing the challenges to move away from business as usual implies facing contrasting objectives. Just to mention a few of them, we have to increase agricultural output while reducing its environmental footprint, pursuing sustainable deals while minimizing land use expansion, and increasing productivity while preserving employment. We need an agricultural system transformation that brings future sustainability and resilience, or these trade-offs will create a great imbalance.
Pierre Jacquet
President of the Global Development Network, Professor at the École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
So we need to think of trade as a way to increase food availability outside the realm of free-trade ideology. A mechanism must be found to make the amounts of food necessary for life available. I think this is the right way to think about it and that trade rules must be designed with this in mind.
Bayu Krisnamurthi
Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness the Faculty of Economics and Management of the Bogor Agricultural University, former Vice Minister of Trade and former Vice Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia
I think we need to do something more drastic than business as usual in dealing with this problem. I would recommend that we should strengthen global food governance. First, let us do our utmost to resume and maintain open food trade, build trust again that food is not just a business but part of a shared moral obligation, it is a part of humanity.
Mariam Al Mheiri
Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates
Countries must plan because food security, which is not just agriculture by the way, is food and loss, waste, nutrition, food safety, the way we consume, what we buy in the supermarket, what ends up in the bin, that all has a huge influence on our food systems today. Most of us always think agriculture, agriculture but there is actually a huge part on the demand side as well and changing and reflecting on how we are consuming.
Debate
12:15 – 13:15 | Plenary session 18
New Technologies for New Geopolitics of Energy
John Andrews
Contributing Editor to The Economist and Project Syndicate
This is a panel on new technologies and the new geopolitics of energy. I have to make an immediate confession, what is my qualification for being here? I am not a technologist, I am not a scientist, so my only real qualification for being here is that I am […] a human being. Therefore, I do have a vested interest in what is happening to our planet and to this energy future. Also, of course, as a human being I consume energy, so I am part of the problem, and I hope this panel will be part of the solution.
Frank Obrist
CEO of OBRIST Powertrain
Since the 1950s CO2 concentration has been rising from 300 to 421ppm and it keeps going up like hell. But the good news is, if we do have a technology to reduce it just as quickly as released then we can get rid of or biggest problem, in only 100 years.
Franklin Servan-Schreiber
Co-Founder and CEO of Transmutex
What do we want? Of course, energy security but also reduction in CO2. It is very clear that for energy security nuclear is more scalable and it is also more scalable for CO2 reduction; there is no contest.
Nicolas Piau
Co-Founder and CEO of TiLT Capital Partners
The real challenge we are experiencing, which is fundamental to the way we think about the energy system, is that we are moving away from those energy-dense technologies to energy “undense” technologies. That means it is no longer a matter of production, it becomes a matter of logistics and optimization.
Friedbert Pflüger
Director of the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the University of Bonn, Founding Partner of Strategic Minds Company GmbH
What can we do in this situation? I think we have embarked on the wrong path and that path is goals and government micromanagement, which forbids certain technologies and interferes in markets and that will not go anywhere. What we have to do is to unleash technologies, and there we are.
Debate
14:15 – 15:45 | Plenary session 19
The Middle East in the New Geopolitical Context
Steven Erlanger
Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, Europe, for The New York Times
There is so much to talk about: the impact of Russia’s return to the region, China’s Belt and Road, the notion of US retrenchment and whether it is real or not, intensified regional competition. What does it mean for these countries to have a green carbon-free world? […] Then there is the quite interesting question of the return of Bibi Netanyahu at the head of a very different Israeli government. What does this new coalition mean for Israel, for the Palestinians, for Israel’s reputation, frankly?
Memduh Karakullukçu
Founding Board member of the Global Relations Forum, Founding Partner of Kanunum, Chairman of Kroton Consulting
I think we are now at a stage where Middle Eastern players including my country, Saudi Arabia, and GCC, are empowered for different reasons and have taken a hyper-pragmatic approach to regional challenges. That means swift maneuvers, deals, bargains have become the currency of the moment.
Gilles Kepel
Director of the Middle East-Mediterranean Chair of the École normale supérieure, Professor at Paris Sciences et Lettres, Special Envoy of President Macron for the Middle East
What is happening in Iran, regardless of what happens with JCPOA, no JCPOA, pause JCPOA, etc., is now significantly different from whatever happened in the past, with the green revolution or whatever it was called where the police arrested a number of people, sentenced, put them in jail and then it was put down. This is not happening […].
Mona Makram Ebeid
Egyptian Senator, Advisor to the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations
After the region was reduced to global war on terror and for two decades we heard nothing but that; this is their claim to fame. However, today the Middle East is now seen through the lens of the great power competition narrative. Increasingly, the Middle East is defined as a battleground between the US and China, and to a lesser extent Russia. What is new is the trend towards Middle Eastern strategic autonomy […].
Itamar Rabinovich
Vice Chairman of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution, former Chief Negotiator with Syria
Internationally, we will have to see what the implications of the Ukraine war for its position in Syria and its ability to be effectively active in the Middle East. The US always raises the familiar question of whether it is pivoting away or not. In fact, the number of US troops in the region has not declined but the message is not very clear.
Abdulaziz Othman Sager
Founder and Chairman of the Gulf Research Center
It is also interesting that the region has started making its own sovereign decisions without waiting for the superpowers’ instructions, which is a clear signal. You can see it in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, and many other countries in the Arab world that are starting to say that we need to protect our interests. This is another crucial dimension.
Debate
15:45 – 17:00 | Plenary session 20
The End of Illusions?
Thierry de Montbrial
Founder and Executive Chairman of Ifri and the WPC
Instead of the session that usually ends the World Policy Conference, we will give the floor to five members of our club and ask each of them to talk about an issue of their choice that, in their opinion, has not been sufficiently addressed or that they want to look at from a different angle.
Michel Foucher
Member of the Center for Higher European Studies, former French Ambassador in Latvia
Ukraine is the scene of the fratricidal and deadly revenge of Russia’s leaders for the collapse of their empire upon itself, three decades earlier, as if it were an expiatory victim. Unable to analyze the real causes of the collapse of the Russian-Soviet form of their State, they understood even less about the national consolidation of Ukraine and the other peripheral republics, which they thought was only the insidious result of a US plot.
Cheikh Tidiane Gadio
President of the Institute for Pan-African Strategies, Peace-Security-Governance, Special Envoy of the OIF, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal
The consequence is that we have not moved African unity forward. We have found ourselves saddled with an enormous amount of problems and in a battle where African youth just about everywhere has stood up against what is called sovereignty and independence. They deny everything and denounce everything today.
Marc Hecker
Director of Research and Communications at Ifri, Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère
The war in Ukraine can be seen as a shock of illusions. There were an enormous amount of misperceptions and mistaken analyses on both sides. In the West, many leaders and analysts got it wrong. They thought that Russia would never invade Ukraine. In the end, they did.
Holger Mey
Vice President of Advanced Concepts Airbus Defence and Space
Most of the younger officers who write for military journals and magazines often begin their article with “we are the army, the air force, the navy” and systematically prepare for the most likely scenarios. I think this is a big mistake, because one should prepare for risk, and risk is the combination or the product of likelihood times damage level.
Fathallah Oualalou
Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, former Minister of Economy and Finance of Morocco
So we have a sort of fragmentation. This fragmentation is ominous. Bipolarization is dangerous. The world needs something new; the world needs multipolarity. I think Europe can fill those shoes, but under three conditions, which might be an illusion.
17:00 – 18:00 | Plenary session 21
US Foreign Policy After the Midterm Elections
Jim Bittermann
Senior European Correspondent in Paris for CNN
You would think with that makeup of Congress that the next two years could be a disaster. They might be, but it may not be as bad as everybody predicts, especially given Mr. Biden’s deftness at negotiating and handling things. Also, given the fact that there is a lot of bilateral agreement on the main two issues that the US views are confronting the world today, China and Russia-Ukraine.
Stuart Eizenstat
Senior Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, former Chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor to President Jimmy Carter
With respect to China, even with the midterm elections there is bipartisan support for a hard-line position against China. I think this will continue and Biden going into a potential Presidential race, does not want to be seen or criticized by the Republicans as being weak on China.
Josef Joffe
Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins, Editorial Advisory Council of the German weekly Die Zeit
On the one hand, Biden did cozy up to Europe. On the other, the Inflation Reduction Act is protectionism with a fancy new label. The gist is that non-US companies will not profit from lavish subsidies, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage on the U.S. market. Worse, the Act may force Europeans to export production and jobs to the U.S.
Jean-Claude Gruffat
Vice Chairman of the American Hospital of Paris Foundation, member of the Leadership Council of United Way Worldwide, Chairman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
NATO, which the previous administrations had questioned, is also now strengthened by the inclusion of Sweden and Finland, which would have been unthinkable if we had not had the conflagration in Ukraine. We are in a situation where effectively the US has greatly benefitted from this conflict in Europe, this is only a part of it, but this is the reality.
Renaud Girard
Senior Reporter and International Columnist at Le Figaro
Germany no longer respects France because it has not met its own obligations, in particular financial obligations with respect to the euro. Its public finances are in a mind-boggling mess, which means the Germans do not see it as a serious partner. I think we have forgotten that.
Debate
18:00 | Closing
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia
Last year we actually signed a strategic framework with the European Union, between the GCC and the European Union, which has already brought significant progress. We restarted our FTA talks after they had been stalled for many years, which is a positive sign and I think Europe is still one of our main trade partners and a very important technological partner. There is a lot we can do with Europe, and I would say that Europe needs to be more engaged in this region. We have a lot to offer Europe and of course, we are already a very important energy partner, but we are also a very important partner for the energy transition. Europe cannot achieve its carbon neutrality goals without this region because you cannot produce enough renewable energy in Europe.