Keynote speakers of the 6th edition of the Geneva Lecture Series jointly organized by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and UNITAR, Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Pascal Lamy discussed the implications and lessons of the financial crisis for global economic growth and economic and financial governance models. The conference that took place at Palais des Nations in Geneva, on 8 December 2010, followed the usual format of the initiative - an interactive debate with journalists and the general public following the keynote addresses - and attracted up to 2000 people in attendance. The Lecture entitled “The impact of the financial crisis on global economic governance” was broadcast live via Internet as well as via a videoconference link to UNHQ in New York where Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu led the group of 100 participants.
Related links:
Geneva Lecture Series website [ www.unitar.org/gls ]
Video archives [http://www.un.org/webcast/genevalectureseries]
Media coverage [http://www.unitar.org/gls/what-the-media-say]
Speaking of a “triple return” of global economic governance and the Organization he is currently leading, the IMF, Mr. Strauss-Kahn noted on the occasion of the lecture, “the world has changed... Growth in emerging and developing economies redefined the balance of power. The crisis has swept away the old economic order. Today, the effects of the crisis are far from over. The situation in Europe remains troubling, and the future is more uncertain than ever today. We must nonetheless begin, without waiting for calm to be restored, to rebuild [global economic governance]”.
Outlining the choice facing the international community, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said we could choose “a new growth model different from the one before the crisis that has shown its limits, or the international community can choose inertia, fall back on national positions, national solutions, and risk years of instability, the breeding ground for another crisis. If the choice is made for a new growth model then it requires a new model of governance and it requires the recognition that enterprises have become global planet wide, and therefore, public expression, the force of democracy, the will of people, must also be translated into on a global scale and that’s where the global economic and financial governance comes in”.
The WTO Director General, Mr. Lamy, in his turn, pointed out, “this crisis stems from the growing disruptions to the order established in the aftermath of the Second World War. But I also think that it provides us with an opportunity to restore some kind of coherence in global economic governance”. For a more detailed account of the event, please see the video archive of the lecture and read the key note addresses on the Geneva Lecture Series website.
The debate moderated by Darius Rochebin, TSR evening news anchor, consisted of questions of the audiences of the media partners of the initiative, Télévision Suisse Romande, Radio Suisse Romande, and Tribune de Genève, as well as questions from the public present in the Assembly Hall of the Palais des Nations. It has covered, among other, the issues linked to the need for effective financial regulation, supervision and crisis resolution mechanisms, the debt crisis in Europe and the future of the Eurozone, shortage in trade finance in developing countries, and trade negotiations.
The Geneva Lecture Series aims to bring awareness of global challenges to the public by engaging prominent political, civil society, business and intellectual figures in a process of reflection on what can and should be done to address pressing issues of global significance. The previous editions included as speakers Nobel Prize Laureates Shirin Ebadi, Wole Soyinka and Mikhail Gorbachev, UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall, Secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and covered such global challenges as Millennium Development Goals, human rights, nuclear disarmament, environmental challenges and intercultural dialogue.