World Economic Forum - Dubai 2008

[AlaskaDenise]

The Network of Global Agenda Councils - Discussion Highlights

The World Economic Forum has conducted the biggest brainstorming on the global agenda which has ever taken place, assembling in Dubai the 700 most knowledgable people related to 68 global challenges.

The timing of this meeting was particularly relevant in the present financial and economic crisis and providing also an input to the forthcoming G20 discussions as well as an input to the new U.S. administration. In addition, this Summit on the Global Agenda will provide a framework for discussions at the Annual Meeting in Davos next January which will be conducted under the theme "Shaping the Post-Crisis World".

Below you can download the Discussion Highlights as PDFs. The Discussion Highlights capture the most important highlights from Council discussions at the Summit on the Global Agenda. They contain the Council?s response to two key questions:

1) What is the state of the world on this issue and how is the economic crisis impacting this issue?

2) What should be done to improve the state of the world on this issue/region/industry and by whom?

Watch the Closing Plenary webcast I Download an overview of the discussions
<HR width="100%" color=#003399 SIZE=1>List of themes
<TABLE width=490 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

Councils on Economic Development & Growth</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Environment & Sustainability</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Finance & Business</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Geopolitics & Global Governance </TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Health</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Regions</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Society & Values</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Councils on Technology & Innovation</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<HR width="100%" color=#003399 SIZE=1> This reflects work that is still in progress. It will continue to be updated and revised.
The views expressed here emerged from the Council meeting and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Economic Forum nor necessarily the views of all the Members of the Councils.

http://www.weforum.org/en/events/InauguralSummitontheGlobalAgenda/CouncilReports/index.htm

<!--SS_END_ELEMENT(region1_element1)-->

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: World Economic Forum - Dubai 2008

The comments below are by one of my favorite writers - Rami Khouri (Beirut Daily Star):
-------------------------------------
Cascading Global Threats Need Coordinated Responses

<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=authors>by Rami G. Khouri</TD><TD class=authors align=right>Released: 12 Nov 2008</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<HR color=black noShade>DUBAI -- What happens when you put on the table all the major crises facing the world, identify how they are linked to each other, and attempt to start charting a path towards their resolution? What happens when you do this by bringing together 700 experts and leaders in their fields from around the world who analyze and recommend action on 68 issues and regions of the world?

This is what took place in Dubai last weekend when the World Economic Forum (WEF) convened the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda, in partnership with the Government of Dubai. WEF founder and chairman Klaus Schwab audaciously but accurately called it ?the biggest brainstorming exercise ever held on a global agenda.?

The 700 ?thought leaders? from business, government, academia and civil society assessed a very wide range of issues of relevance to the entire world, including water, energy, youth, terrorism, health care, climate change, food, sustainable development, women?s rights, education, capital flows, and four dozen other topics. Simultaneously, teams analyzed the current state and future prospects of all the world?s geographic regions and a few major countries like Russia, China, Korea and India.

I had the opportunity to participate in this pioneering three-day event, which was as instructive as it was novel and ambitious. The recommendations that emerged at the end are worth noting because they capture a few overriding themes that tell us much about how we got into the current global crisis. (Summaries of the 68 group findings are on the WEF website, http://www.weforum.org/globalagenda/reports).

The main recommendation was that the world must re-examine the basic operating systems that drive its economies, markets and societies, and aim for a ?fundamental reboot? to establish a fresh platform based on renewed confidence and trust, and on sustainability, responsibility, and ethical principles.

A theme that permeated many areas was the loss of trust and confidence in existing national and global governance systems. It was noted that the current global financial crisis represented a failure of both economic markets and political sovereignty.

A second theme was a need to identify and observe the carrying capacity of the natural environment. A third was the vital importance of ?inclusive? decision-making, i.e., everyone has to have a voice and a seat at the table to fix the current global problems. We?re all needed to manage things once the ship is righted.

Greater transparency and availability of information and data were priorities for many of the 68 councils, who traced some of today?s problems to excesses anchored in insufficient disclosure of information with excessive risk-taking and poor regulation.

Since most major crises reflect clusters of several individual problems or imbalances that merge together, analyses, diagnoses and solutions similarly must be multi-sectoral and transnational. Everywhere, it was acknowledged, that the foundation of good governance is anchored in the rule of law -- a vital prerequisite for a livable, secure world.

Finally, the participants recognized the need for reasonable global governance systems that set basic rules but do not stifle entrepreneurship. It was noted, for example, that global capital markets collapsed in recent months due to lack of quality regulation and governance, but the global trading system thrives, because it is governed by globally accepted rules.

One morning during the weekend was devoted to interaction among the 68 different councils, allowing participants to walk around the immense conference facility to hear and speak with experts from different sectors and regions. What struck me as I worked my way through sessions on youth empowerment, climate change, food security, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the future of the city, demographic shifts and a dozen other subjects was the constant theme of inter-linkages among the individual issues or threats. Climate change impacts on water resources, which affects agriculture and urban quality of life, prompting migration, which causes new stresses on education and health services, in turn leading to political stress, and on and on.

Cascading stresses and threats need multi-sectoral responses.

The weekend experience was troubling for pointing out just how severe are the problems the world faces, but it was also hopeful for reminding us that we have immense reserves of human talent and knowledge to find solutions to man-made problems. Members of each of the 68 Global Agenda councils will continue their deliberations all year through advanced web-conferencing technology, and will convene again next year in Dubai.

The Network of Global Agenda Councils, as this effort is called, is one example of how like-minded people around the world can pool their knowledge and resources in a global collaboration to address growing challenges and threats that are no longer confined to a single sector, country or region. One-off gatherings don?t have much impact: They need to lead to ongoing mechanisms managed by the private sector, NGOs, and governments alike to work together on the great challenges facing our planet.


Rami G. Khouri is Editor-at-large of The Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon.

http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=1798