Speaker: Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed all around the globe several failures in institutional and political management. Indeed, public health systems, government capability and trust in government have all been challenged during the pandemic. At the beginning of the sanitary crisis, quick initial responses from governments were crucial to the propagation of the virus, e.g. closing borders, alleviating the initial economic impact of lockdowns etc. At the peak of the pandemic, public health systems were tested due to the high number of hospitalisations. In addition, the digitalisation of education and administrative procedures was critical to ensure the continuity of social life. Today, the organisation of successful vaccination campaigns is decisive to end this crisis. In the near future, governments should also implement various policies to counter the long-standing effects of the pandemic. To cope with these challenges, good governance is a paramount stake. In this regard, we will address why good governance is important in times of the pandemic.
- How can government responses to the pandemic be assessed in the light of governance?
- Why governance is crucial to overcome long term impacts of the pandemic?
Moderator: Uduak Amimo, Journalist and Consultant, Uduak Amimo Coaching and Consulting, Kenya
Speakers:
- Obiageli Ezekwesili, Former Minister of Education ; Senior Economic Advisor, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), Nigeria
- Ana Palacio, Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Spain
- Paolo Portas, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Portugal
- Hubert Védrine, Former Foreign Affairs Minister, France
- What role can we entrust to international institutions in the construction of this new world order? How can we rebuild a sense of trust?
- With the predominance of new major players like China, can we say that the new world order will signal the end of the Western order?
- Hasn't the health crisis proved that multilateralism is in retreat and that its values have been undermined for decades?
Moderator: Andres Schipani, East and Central Africa Correspondent, Financial Times
Speakers:
- Youness Abouyoub, Director of the Governance and State-Building Division for the MENA Region United Nations
- Paolo Magri, Executive Vice President and Director, Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), Italy
- What are the issues at stake behind Africa’s stability?
- Why previous policies have failed to revolve stability challenges in Africa?
- What is the role of African institutions in achieving the continent’s stability?
- How can we innovate in stability mechanisms in Africa?
Moderator: Yonas Adeto, Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS)
Speakers:
- Bineta Diop, Special Envoy on Women Peace & Security, African Union Commission
- Francis Ofori, Commandant, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Ghana
- J. Peter Pham, Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council ; Former United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region, USA
Today, technology touches almost every aspect of our daily lives, affecting our activities both online and offline. It widened the possibilities of work, education, access to information, health care, etc. But these same technologies can unfortunately be used to infringe our rights.
There are more and more examples of how new technologies such as artificial intelligence can be used as a powerful tool for human rights. While they have the potential to make significant positive contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights. At the same time, however, their rapid development raises serious questions about the potential negative impacts on human rights.
As a result, technologies have an impact on all human rights, from the right to life to the right to privacy, from freedom of expression to social and economic rights. The question of whether we should instead be concerned about the use of these technologies and their deployment in unjust and unequal political, military, economic and social contexts is of vital importance. This session will therefore try to answer the following questions:
- How can we defend human rights in a technological landscape increasingly shaped by robotics and artificial intelligence?
- How will the use of technology impact human rights?
Moderator: Julian Colombo, Founder & Executive Director at TANT - Estrategias Innovadoras, Argentina and Brazil
Speakers:
- Doru Costea, Former President, United Nations Human Rights Council
- Jessica Gottsleben, Innovative Servant Leader (ADEL)
- Trisha Shetty, Founder & CEO, SheSays
- Bernardo Sorj, Director, Edelstein Center for Social Research
- How can we build an inclusive social contract after what the pandemic has revealed the flaws inside our systems?
- How does international cooperation impact the national debates on social contracts?
- Do states have to create global surveillance systems in order to ensure citizen’s well-being?
Moderator: James Mcgann, Director, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program
Speakers:
- Tosin Duratoye, Principal, Conselia Advisory Practice (ADEL)
- Bushra Ebadi, Network Coordinator, Data-driven Surveillance Technologies & Migration Amnesty International (ADEL)
- Serigne Gueye Diop, Minister Advisor to the President ; Mayor of Sandiara, Senegal
- Ignacio Walker, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chile
In this context, a number of questions seem relevant:
- What are the levers to act on for a quick and strong recovery for the world economy?
- What place for human development in the post-Covid development strategies?
- How to conciliate between ambitious development objectives and budget sustainability?
Moderator: Otaviano Canuto, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, El Salvador
- Harinder Kohli, President and CEO, Centennial Group, USA
- Frannie Leautier, Chairperson, Co-Founding Partner, Mkoba Private Equity Fund, Tanzania
- Given the different episodes of uncertainty, including the COVID-19 outbreak, what are the urgent areas of collaboration between the US and China?
- What are the shortcomings of Phase One trade deal and the expectations of Phase Two deal? What might be the optimal alternative approach to purchase commitments in managing the trade imbalances?
- As the Biden administration is not inclined to immediately review the US policy toward China, what will be the consequences of maintaining tariffs in 2021 on both economies?
- The deep intertwining of the EU economies, the US and China implies that the trade war is having spillover effects that go beyond the imposed tariffs on China. What are the different implications for the EU in the context of the current crisis?
Moderator: Steve Clemons, Editor at Large, The Hill
Speakers:
- Uri Dadush, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
- Renato Flores, Director, International Intelligence Unit, Fundaçao Getulio Vargas, Brazil
- Anabel Gonzalez, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization
- Adam Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA
- Given the current uncertain global context resulting from the health crisis, are countries committed enough in the battle against climate change?
- How can countries lower the cost of the transition to low-carbon sources of energy? What are the significant policies needed to foster the use of sustainable energy?
- To pursue its battle against climate change, the EU has introduced a carbon border adjustment mechanism as part of its “Fit for 55” package. What are the possible implications of such mechanisms? Are carbon taxes an adequate tool to incentivize countries to decarbonize?
Moderator: Uduak Amimo, Journalist and Consultant, Uduak Amimo Coaching and Consulting, Kenya
Speakers:
- Nchimunya Hamukoma, Research Manager, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator (ADEL)
- Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, India
- Mari Luomi, Research Fellow, KAPSARC
- Saïd Mouline, CEO, Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency AMEE
Developing countries in the South were faced with a double challenge. On the one hand, they have to deal with the heavy burden of fighting endemic diseases. Africa has been put to the test, in addition to HIV-AIDS, malaria and Ebola, the Marburg virus threatens to further compromise West Africa's capacity to respond.
In Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, immunization rates remain very low (between 10 and 20% at the end of September), according to PAHO/WHO, and the challenges in these regions are similar and relate to the elimination of infectious diseases, the strengthening of emergency risk management capacities and the guarantee of universal health coverage.
On the other hand, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has strained health systems in developing countries and threatens them with collapse. The post-Covid-19 period offers an opportunity to rebuild public health systems in our global south and address the structural failures that undermine them.
- What are the main failures of the public health sector and what reforms should be put on the agenda?
- What should be the priorities and pillars of a resilient public sector that serves all citizens?
- The issue of public health is transversal and touches on the environment, demography, food... How to deal with such a project?
- Faced with the cost of scientific research and medical equipment, particularly vaccines, how can we ensure substantial funding and a more efficient and fairer international solidarity?
Moderator: Zeinab Badawi, Presenter, BBC Global Questions and HardTalk ; Director, Kush Communications
Speakers:
- Nathalie Delapalme, Executive Director, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
- Neelam Deo, Director and Co-founder, Gateway House, India
- Sergio Suchodolski, CEO, Development Bank of Minas Gerais, Brazil
- What are the implications of this scramble for Africa?
- Can we say that all external powers are similar in their strategy towards Africa?
- How is the scramble for the continent driving further militarization and securitization and how is it affecting internal continental dynamics?
- Is the continent doomed to be a space for competition or is there room for cooperation between global powers towards better outcomes for Africans?
Moderator:Marcus de Freitas, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- John Sawers, Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory, former Chief of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), UK
- Bronwyn Bruton, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
- How can the Biden administration renew the transatlantic partnership which will lead to formulating a common strategy towards China, reimagining NATO and expanding the US-EU partnership?
- Will Biden's agenda threaten European strategic autonomy?
- What are the prospects for an inclusive Atlantic policy or Alliance that takes into account the wider Atlantic community?
- In light of the divisions pitting EU Member States against each other, has the EU actually managed to be perceived as a serious geopolitical actor by other power centers (in Africa, Asia and the Middle East)?
- Looking at the wider Atlantic, are there signs of closer transatlantic parliamentary cooperation between the European Parliament, the US Congress, the Latin American Parliament and the African Union Parliament?
Moderator:Mohammed Loulichki, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- Fernanda Magnotta, Senior Fellow, CEBRI
- Ian Lesser, Vice President, Foreign Policy; Executive Director, German Marshall Fund (GMF)
- Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director, Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS), France
- Has Europe achieved to be rebalance its relations with China, for instance in terms of better protecting its companies’ intellectual property and ensuring better access to Chinese public markets?
- How probable is it that Europe will manage to enforce common industrial, innovation and digital strategies to reinforce its position worldwide in these matters?
- How likely is it that the EU can achieve the “strategic autonomy” that it has been seeking these past few years, notably in view of the United States’ and NATO’s preeminence in strategic and military issues?
- In light of the divisions pitting EU Member States against each other, has the EU actually managed to be perceived as a serious geopolitical actor by other power centers (in Africa, Asia and the Middle East)?
- Can the current Commission succeed where the previous ones seem to have largely failed in the Neighborhood and Africa?
- How successful has the Commission been as a promoter of multilateralism worldwide?
Moderator:Ivan Martin, Senior Fellow, Policy Center For the New South
Speakers:
- Thomas Gomart, Director, French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), France
- Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, President, NATO Defense College Foundation, Italy
- La pandémie sera-t-elle considérée comme un tournant historique dans la conceptualisation de nouvelles perspectives pour le développement ?
- Comment façonner l’avenir du développement pour des sociétés plus durables et égalitaires ?
- Quels devraient être les secteurs prioritaires pour sortir plus forts de la pandémie et transformer nos économies, et créer des emplois ? Surtout, comment les pays à faible revenu du bassin atlantique, peuvent-ils transformer leurs économies et leurs sociétés ?
- Compte tenu de la nature asymétrique de la reprise au niveau mondial, que peut faire la communauté internationale pour assurer une reprise plus équilibrée entre les Etats ?
Moderator: Larabi Jaïdi, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South, Morocco
Speakers:
- Jean Louis Sarbib, CEO, Centennial Group International
- Pedro da Motta Veiga, Director, Center For Integration And Development Studies (Cindes), Brazil
- Candide Leguede, Founder and Managing Director, Arcandia and Innov’Up, Togo
- Dónde es más visible esta polarización y fragmentación política?
- Se puede hablar de una crisis institucional regionalizada?
- • La oleada de protestas que ha tenido lugar cobró bastante protagonismo puesto que fueron protagonizadas por los jóvenes. ¿Qué papel está desempeñando la juventud latinoamericana?
Moderator: Lourival Sant’Anna, International Affairs Analyst, CNN Brasil
Speakers:
- Laura Albornoz, Former Minister of Women's Affairs, Chile
- Juan Battaleme, Academic Director, Argentinean Council of International Relations (CARI), Argentina
- Jorge Castaneda, Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico
- Jason Marczak, Director Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council USA
- Are classrooms really obsolete or is will a truly robust system integrate both digital and face to face learning?
- What did the new environment of online education teach us about the importance of face-to-face classrooms and productive pedagogies for this setting? And likewise, how can we design and utilize digital tools to the advantage of schools?
- What has to remain the prerogative of the classroom and what can we continue to leave to the online environment so that we can best use the in-class face-to-face time?
- How might we take our insights developed from online teaching to prioritize and optimize what face-to-face pedagogies afford in relation to updated understanding of educational ideals, methods and values?
Moderator: Nouzha Chekrouni, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- Kassie Freeman, President and CEO, African Diaspora Consortium (ADC), USA
- Youssef Kobo Aouriaghel, Strategic Innovation Consultant, Vrijdaggroep
- Mohammed Elmeski, Senior Researcher Policy, Practice & Systems Change, American Institutes for Research
- Milo Rignell, Head of Innovation, Institut Montaigne
- What are the main imperatives for resetting the future of work agenda?
- How to embrace the integration of technology and skills to transform the workplace?
- Full-time, hybrid and homebased work: What implications for companies’ productivity and workforces’ wellbeing?
- What governance models to adopt in managing new workforces’ standards?
Moderator: Ivan Martin, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- Juan Diego Mujia Filipi, Researcher, Harvard Law School
- Prince Boadu, Entrepreneur/Global Supply Chain Expert
- Hanae Bezad, Founder, Douar Tech
- Given that only the American GAFAM’s financial value has reached 4 trillion USD while the whole GDP of Africa is still around 2.6 trillion USD, is it possible for African companies to compete locally with the IT giants? If not, will encouraging foreign investments in this sector, through which they acquire funds and expertise will be a better choice?
- Do the education programs in Southern countries qualify local labor to get involved in cutting edge technology projects, particularly in cyber security, and this, in order to protect their national economic and security data?
- How the South-South collaborations and the exchange of technology and funds can benefit African countries and ensure a certain independence from the North?
Moderator: Claude Grunitzky, CEO, The Equity Alliance ; Chairman, True Africa
Speakers:
- H.E Prof. Muhammadou M.O.Kah, Ambassador of The Gambia to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to UN organisations at Geneva
- Pablo Medina, Vice President – Research ; Welligence Energy Analytics
- Should we be confident about the future of the AFCfTA?
- What role of local industrial policy in the promoting of intra-african trade?
- How can the AFCfTA set the stage for a new economic partnership with world economic powers?
Moderator: Landry Signé, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Speakers:
- Edem Adzogenu, Co-Founder, AfroChampions, Ghana
- Laoye Jaiyeola, CEO, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Nigeria
- Dominique Lafont, CEO, Lafont Africa Corporation ; Senior Advisor, BCG, France
In the field of demography, the pandemic has caused the death of more than 4.5 million people (the elderly being the most exposed) and has had an impact on births (the number of births in 2020 is estimated to be the lowest since 1961, when China experienced a massive famine) and is expected to have an impact on the cross-border movement of people (many migrant workers have not been able to travel, and many will opt to migrate in order to improve their living conditions). Covid-19 may also have an impact on life expectancy, particularly if more contagious and possibly more lethal variants of the coronavirus emerge.
In this context, the following questions emerge:
- What concerns do we have about the demographic changes potentially brought about by Covid-19?
- Will the measures taken by countries today be sufficient to cope with such demographic changes
- How can countries in the Atlantic Basin effectively pursue mitigation and adaptation policies to deal with the unintended consequences of Covid-19 on migratory movements?
Moderator: Omayra Issa, National Reporter, CBC News, Canada
Speakers:
- Hafsat Abiola, President - Women in Africa
- Rumbidzai Chisenga, Director of Programs, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development (EJS Center)
- Giulia Marchesini, Human Capital Senior Program Manager, CMI/UNOPS
- Mabingue Ngom, Senior Advisor to UNFPA Executive Director and Director of UNFPA Representation office to the African Union and the Economic Commission of Africa
- Should we be more concerned about the economic recovery or the debt situation? Are we facing a trade-off?
- Have the initiatives taken by the international community so far, in support of certain countries, to mitigate their risks of over-indebtedness and default, been sufficient and effective?
- How to maintain the development momentum for countries facing a liquidity shortage?
- How to reform the international architecture to reduce the risk of future debt crises?
Moderator: John Yearwood, Global News Editor, Politico
Speakers:
- Rym Ayadi, Founder and President, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), Tunisia
- Edward Scicluna, Governor, Central Bank of Malta
- Andrea Presbitero, Senior Economist, Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
أما بالنسبة للجانب الجيوسياسي فالأجدر بالإهتمام هو كون المنطقتين العربية و الإفريقية تكونان فضاء استراتيجيا بالنسبة للأخرى، إذ كيف يمكن أن ينظر إلى أمن الساحل و المغرب بصفة تعزل كلّا من هتين المنطقتين عن الأخرى و كذا الأمر بالنسبة لجزيرة العرب و منطقة القرن الإفريقي.
كيف إذن لهذه التداخلات أن تعزز الوعي بضرورة التعاون بين العالم العربي و إفريقيا سواء تعلق الأمر باكتساب المصالح أو درأ الأخطار، و ما السبيل إلى خلق هياكل مؤسساتية تجعل من هذا التعاون هدفا ذو أسبقية و أهمية؟
مسير الجلسة
- عبد الحق باسو، باحث بارز، مركز السياسات من أجل الجنوب الجديد
المتحدثون
- عمرو موسى، وزير خارجية مصر السابق، أمين عام جامعة الدول العربية السابق
- دحان أحمد محمود، مدير تنفيذي، المعهد الموريتاني للدراسات الاستراتيجية
- فتوح هيكل، مدير الأبحاث و مستشار سياسي، مركز تريندز للبحوث والاستشارات
- حمزة المؤدّب, باحث غير مقيم، مركز مالكوم كير – كارنيغي للشرق الأوسط
- What are the implications in these circumstances for Latin America?
- Will Latin America be able to build a new common health strategy in the face of the possibility of a fourth pandemic wave that has started in the north?
- What will be the future of strategic alliances such as Mercosur in the event of a possible breakdown of common interests among its members?
- How can extreme ideological and political divergences between countries be overcome in the pursuit of the common good?
- How will Latin America handle the trade war between the United States and China? In block or individually country by country?
- Can we say that all external powers are similar in their strategy towards Latin America
- Will new players like China and Russia be able to supplant Latin America's historic relationship with the United States and Europe?
- Is the continent condemned to be a territory of competition between powers or will we be able to create a space for regional integration with better results for Latin Americans?
- Can the existing political polarization between countries be overcome with a unity of the continental bloc beyond pre-existing interests?
Moderator: Lourival Sant’Anna, International Affairs Analyst, CNN Brasil
Speakers:
- Jamil Mahuad, Former President, Ecuado
- Federico Ramon Puerta, Former President, Argentina
- Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Former President, Costa Rica