The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the growing tension and competition with China have exacerbated the fragmentation of the world. The financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing fiscal retrenchment in many Western countries undermined trust in the institutions that hold our societies together and have provided stability for generations. The conflicts in the Middle East, terrorism and organised crime are radicalising sectors of our societies in different ways and corrupting others.
With this troubled context in mind, Future Resilience Forum provides a non-partisan international forum, where the key challenges of our time that are testing the resilience of our societies can be discussed under Chatham House rules by global experts and international political figures. The issues that we face transcend borders and require us to develop new neural links to overcome the fragmentation in the world, and require us to develop new types of relationships across the Global South with countries that have differing value systems. The geopolitical certainties of the past have been upended and instead we need a new approach that will help us develop the solutions to the common challenges.
The late Henry Kissinger noted that in government the urgent overtakes the important for policy makers. The forum is a means to redress that balance and takes on the task of focusing on the important issues that we face under four headings: Resilient Democracy, Resilient Economy, Resilient Development and Resilient Planet. Under each heading, we tackle fundamental issues that undermine our resilience and the forum speakers offer insights into the key questions. We do the thinking for governments and corporates, and provide a platform for new types of international engagement.
Only if multilateralism is more open and representative of the interests of the whole world will it guarantee the survival of the system, including of the international financial architecture.
The epic nature of the climate transition and its implications are ones that haven't been adequately internalised, certainly from the perspective of critical minerals and supply chains... China controls between 65-95% of most critical minerals going into climate change mitigation and energy transition... China can close down Tesla in the US in 5 or 6 weeks.
Weaker mass media has led to more misinformation and fake news by individual influencers and that is affecting our political situation... The integrity of democracy is under threat and on top of that are attempts by Russia and China to spread misinformation and fake news. We need to be ready to counter misinformation with AI.