WELCOME
VICTOR PHILIPPENKO
Chairman of the Board,
G20 Foundation
10
It has been a dramatic Year.
The refugee crisis within the EU,
the BREXIT referendum, the attempted
coup d’etat in Turkey, multiple terrorist
attacks, ongoing military conflicts in
Syria and Ukraine, the extraordinary
presidential election in the US are
all events of paradigm-shifting
significance.
In the current age of the 24-hour
multimedia news cycle, one can
easily be tempted to deduct that
multilateralism is in decline and that
some countries are re-discovering
protectionism – if not isolationism.
Yet at these moments it is imperative
that we realise we need to focus on
the concrete challenges from a global
perspective. Specifically, G20 allows
us a compass of clarity within which we
can distil the essence of these global
challenges with clarity and nuance. It
is this point of view, that will prevent
us from being overwhelmed from
the projected apocalypses that are
supposedly lurking in the shadow of
each and every human tragedy and
political crisis, especially when they
are close to home.
We need the G20. It is an exemplary
platform for international cooperation
and has proven itself in most tumultuous
times as a remarkable catalyst. However
in this year of tumult, where populist