« The Scimitar | Main | Mayor Mike’s Manifesto »
September 28, 2007
The Week’s Global Village
The opening week of the United Nations is like Thanksgiving at my parents’ home in Chicago; you eat so much and talk so incessantly that you have to take a nap afterward. In the past few days, I have been immersed in the cacophony of New York City hosting the UN dignitaries and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Here is my take:
India—The Government celebrated its 60th birthday with a very extensive promotional campaign under the Incredible India @60 banner. From classical dance in Bryant Park to Bollywood stars to fusion music to a colorful fashion show, India showed that it is a cultural leader. But the substantive message is that India is open for business, aggressively seeking foreign investment. Sunil Mittal, CEO of Bharti Enterprises and host of the dinner at the NY Public Library, said that his government is now at one with the private sector, recognizing that the best chance for a better life for India’s masses is high quality jobs. The Finance Minister, Mr. P Chidambaram, said that the new heroes of the country are the entrepreneurs such as Sunil Mittal and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, who are bringing Indian business to the global stage.
Brazil—The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Luis Nunes Amorim, speaking at the India dinner, suggested that there is an evolving group of Southern Hemisphere superpowers, including Brazil, India and South Africa, rich in agricultural resources, determined to bring large elements of their populations to better living conditions. He was very firm about the position of these “Second World” nations on the Doha Trade Round, claiming that the US and EU had blocked an agreement by insisting on retention of excessive agricultural trade barriers. Mr. Amorim said that social justice is the central goal of the Lula Administration; in sharp contrast to the Indian government officials, he did not praise the private sector.
France—The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, was very blunt about the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear capability. He noted that French companies had drastically reduced investment in Iran in response to the Government’s request but that companies from other nations had filled that void. He did not rule out the military option but said that more widely implemented sanctions by European countries is a necessary first step. He indicated that France would take a more active role in the Israel Palestine peace process, saying that there is a need to move with alacrity. He made it clear that France would have a more harmonious relationship with the US on both foreign policy and economic development.
Canada—Prime Minister Steven Harper said that Canada would be a more active player on the global stage. “Canada will lead by example,” he said, with terrorism/security, environment and trade his top issues. He wants a new international protocol with binding targets on carbon emissions, that must include the US, India and China. He said that his country has a proud history of international action to end repression and that higher defense spending will increase the country’s capability to bring about positive change. He used Afghan schools as an example; five years ago, there were 700,000 children in schools, all boys, while today there are 6 million children in schools, 2 million of whom are girls. He wants to engage with nations in South America where he noted that some leaders are falling back from economic deregulation. He concluded by saying that no country acting alone can address all of the challenges facing the world; the middle level powers such as Canada have to step up to take their place in a multi-polar universe.
The rising wealth of Asia and the greater share of total assets moving toward natural resource rich nations have changed the global balance of power. Business will have to accommodate dispersion of authority, where rules are written not just in the EU or USA, but in the case of green buildings, in China. PR will play a vital role in this transition. We will help global business to identify major issues such as environment or rural development in which it can make common cause with government, NGOs and communities while selling their own products, so that “green equals green.” I would appreciate your views on this report.
Posted by Edelman at September 28, 2007 10:37 AM |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edelman.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/423
Comments
Richard,
Thank you for your most recent post. It’s a tough subject but one that we have to address. Michael Milken has put a lot of money behind it over the past ten years.
Also, The NTI Group, an Edelman client, has a pretty high profile executive, Billy Pitts, who took a humorous approach to the topic with his site http://www.checkyourjohnnies.com/ that he created after his cancer was diagnosed.
Pitts was the former chair of House Rules Committee (great profile of him here - http://thehill.com/business--lobby/billy-pitts-master-of-the-house-2005-05-17.html).
He might be worth engaging. He’s a good guy. Incredibly well connected and this is a topic he cares deeply about.
Glad to hear all is well,
Josh Morgan
Posted by: Josh Morgan at September 28, 2007 6:36 PM
It's interesting to read about each country's message. It's a reflection of their 'head-space'. As a South African, it's wonderful to read that countries in the same socio-economic situation are so like-minded. Notice how positive these countries were compared to the rest! As much as much as I love New York, I believe that there is no way that it will ever be as strong as it has been before. Bring on the new age superpowers!
Posted by: Nadia Padayachi at October 11, 2007 9:06 AM