the_bridge_tank, auteur sur The Bridge Tank

The Bridge Tank attends the Davos World Economic Forum 2018

Posted on 1 February 201827 July 2021 by the_bridge_tank

The Davos World Economic Forum 2018 took place between the 23rd and the 26th of January, dedicated to subjects such as emerging powers in the global economy, sustainable development, special economic zones, green and sustainable investments, as well as education.

The Bridge Tank, represented by its president, Joël Ruet, attended several key events:

The UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) working lunch during which he spoke with the UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Isabelle Durant, and the Indian State Secretary for Special Economic Zones.

The launch of the AfroChampions Initiative, a platform devoted to the promotion of African homegrown companies and providing support to emerging African multinationals. Among the keynote speakers present were its cofounders: Samba Bathily and Thabo Mbeki (former South African President), Guinean President Alpha Condé, Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim and the President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa.

A Davos side event organized in partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, attended by the Prince Turki bin Saud, chair of the executive committee of the Prince Mohammad bin Fahd Foundation for Humanitarian Development, and Jacques Attali, former head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and of the bipartisan “Attali Commission”.

The Next Einstein Forum, aimed at promoting science and teaching science in Africa. Dr Tolullah Oni spoke notably on public health, in line with the theme of the conference: ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’.

Joël Ruet attends the 2018 annual African Union Summit focused on corruption

Posted on 1 February 201822 July 2021 by the_bridge_tank

Our Chairman Joel Ruet attended the African Union Summit 2018, which took place on the 28th and 29th of January. The summit gathered African Foreign Ministers, politicians and economists to set the agenda for the heads of state summit in July 2018. During this conference, speakers declared 2018 to be the year of anti-corruption. Ten of the represented countries were elected to be taking part of the Peace and Security Council.

Joël Ruet was guest commentator to an AfroChampions Initiative side event. The keynote speakers were Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger, Aliko Dangote, Nigerian billionaire businessman, Jean-Louis Billon, Ivorian politician and economist and former Minister of Commerce, as well as UNCTAD delegates.

Policy Brief: Transfers of Knowledge & Technology : the ultimate Development Challenge and key role of Entreprises

Posted on 1 February 201828 June 2023 by the_bridge_tank

Technology transfer, coupled with the formation of knowledge, has long been an objective targeted by development policies. Issues related to climate and environmental transitions have reinforced the perception of the importance of technology transfer from the North to the South as a means to clean development. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is the main tool of climate finance. Implemented in 2005, it aims to orchestrate this transfer of clean technologies. Criticized for its ineffectiveness, its mitigated success is above all a reminder of a truth that has been known for a long time: the technological absorption capacities of territories are more important than the technologies themselves. A strategy of development through technological diffusion cannot therefore ignore the support given to local economies and their enterprises – the support for the development of the market and probably also the support for the development of intellectual property regimes that underpin knowledge transfer to developing economies.

These last two points are necessary to articulate a healthy relationship between international technology-providing companies and local recipient companies and in build a framework that aids in appropriating, adapting and disseminating them … a necessary condition for the success of “technological seeding”.

Our recommendations are based on a logic spontaneously implemented by the countries that have been most effective in capturing the CDM “manna”: China, India and Brazil have been able to orchestrate their markets and, through generous offers in kind, to free themselves from the stakes blocking intellectual property elsewhere.

Our Board member Suresh Prabhu gives a talk at the “Invest India” conference at the Davos Forum

Posted on 30 January 201823 July 2021 by the_bridge_tank

The 2018 edition of the Davos Forum took place between the 23rd and the 26th of January. Suresh Prabhu, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, intervened during the “Invest India” conference on the 23rd of January, along with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his State Secretary for Foreign Trade.

The Minister and Joël Ruet shared their points of view on India’s place in globalisation and global economic matters. Suresh Prabhu is also a member of the Bridge Tank’s board.

Belt & Road Initiative : The Bridge Tank part of a study tour to China

Posted on 28 November 201716 May 2023 by the_bridge_tank

In November 2017, a Belt and Road Initiative study tour to China was organised by the Chinese Embassy in France. It gathered a delegation of 10 French personalities, which included Joel Ruet, President of The Bridge Tank, political decision makers, journalists and former general officers of the armed forces.

This delegation, led by former French deputy secretary-general of the President and former Minister Frédéric de Saint-Sernin and organised in partnership with General Eric de la Maisonneuve (Ret.), notably included General Jean-Bernard Pinatel (Ret.), Alain Frachon, journalist for Le Monde, Damien Cesselin, director of the drafting group of the French Parliament, and Emmanuel Hache, researcher at IFPEN. The delegation spent a week in China and visited four cities: Beijing, Xi’an, Xiamen and Shanghai. The tour allowed for discussions with members of official institutes specialised in different subjects: from the leading Chinese Foreign Studies Institute (the China Institute of International Studies) to the National Development and Reform Commission, ranging through diverse financial organisations in charge of funding and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, like the new Silk Road Fund, the AIIB, or the top executive team of the Bank of China.

The delegation was welcomed in Beijing by the head of the Chinese Foreign Affairs’ Europe Department, in Xi’an and the Shaanxi province by provincial authorities, in Xiamen by the Vice Mayor, and in Shanghai by the municipality.

The delegation exchanged with officials about the integration of the Belt and Road Initiative to the global economy, the position of Chinese financial institutions in Africa, as well as on financial and industrial relations between French and Chinese economic sectors. Visits included some on site learning, notably in Xiamen’s automated harbor, and in Xi’an’s railway interconnecting platforms. Xiamen is one of the top three historical special economic zones of China.

Pictures from the study tour

Xiamen Harbor

Joël Ruet attends the Hope Foundation Gala Dinner chaired by Irina Bokova during the United Nation’s General Assembly

Posted on 30 September 20177 January 2022 by the_bridge_tank

During the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York, between the 19th and the 25th September 2017, Joël Ruet took part in a working lunch with the Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in the Public Library of New York.
The Bridge Tank’s chairman then attended the annual Hope Foundation Dinner Gala on the 19th of September. The Foundation, chaired by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and member of the Bridge Tank’s board, awarded to President Keïta a prize for his actions to preserve culture, and notably the Timbuktu manuscripts.

Joël Ruet was also interviewed at this occasion by the Moroccan Press Agency, and said that this prize rewarded years of effort in Morocco and its region. He added that the opening of Morocco to Africa demonstrated the King’s understanding of sustainable development and social integration challenges, both in the kingdom and in the region.

Watch his interview here.

The Bridge Tank at the 2017 United Nations General Assembly in New York

Posted on 29 September 201727 July 2021 by the_bridge_tank

During the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York, between the 19th and the 25th September 2017, our chairman, Joël Ruet, took part in a working lunch with the Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in the Public Library of New York. Ruet then attended the annual Hope Foundation Dinner Gala on the 19th of September. The Foundation, chaired by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and member of the Bridge Tank’s board, awarded a prize to President Keïta a prize for his actions to preserve culture, notably concerning the Timbuktu manuscripts. The Foundation also awarded the Prize of Special Recognition of Leadership in the promotion of tolerance and the inter-cultural reconciliation to the King of Morocco Mohammed VI.

Joël Ruet was interviewed at this occasion by the Moroccan Press Agency and said that this prize rewarded years of effort in Morocco and its region. He added that the opening of Morocco to Africa demonstrated the King’s understanding of sustainable development and social integration challenges, both in the kingdom and in the region.

Investment Support Program for #LDCs at #UNGA 2017edition

Posted on 23 September 201715 September 2021 by the_bridge_tank

Thé Bridge Tank’s President Joel Ruet, accompanied by ElHaj Kasse member of our policy board, participated on September 22, 2017 to the Investment support program for LDCs (Least Developed Countries) at the UN headquarters. It was attended equally by ministers, heads of LDCs’ investment promotion agencies, representatives of LDCs’ development partners and experts in this field.

The ISP/LDCs (Investment support program for Least Developed Countries) was first articulated in early 2016. At that time, the international community reaffirmed the commitment to address the special needs of LDCs. This initiative was developed by UN-OHRLLS and IDLO.

The LDCs stand for Least Developed Countries and are the least socio-economically developed countries in the world. This group gathers 47 countries which are the following: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Zambia.

This program has received a major financial contribution from the Government of Italy, who wishes to respond through this investment to the need to increase FDI in LDCs for the decade 2011-2020 and also in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda. In Sustainable Development Goal-10/Target 10.b: Reduce inequalities between and within countries and the importance of the role of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).

During the conference, Irene Khan insisted that LDCs should always be a priority for the 2030 Agenda “#2030Agenda is about leaving no one behind and #LDCs cannot be left behind”. Also the legal protection of FDI in LDCs was one of the topics discussed.

France Might Miss The Great African Transformation

Posted on 15 September 20176 August 2020 by the_bridge_tank

No French diplomat was present at the launching of the African Union “2016 Transition Report” in New York on September 21st. Is it because it is an internal matter of the African Union, or is it symptomatic of a French disregard for the transformation of the continent ? In either case, it appears that it is one of the many signs that France stands idle by as Africa undergoes many changes. Read Joel Ruet’s analysis on this matter in this OpEd published in Jeune Afrique

Non-Aligned Capitalism

Posted on 14 August 20172 June 2020 by the_bridge_tank

EMERGING COUNTRIES, OR THE NEW INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE WORLD

The rise of emerging economies is one of the greatest transformations of the twenty-first century. However, they are still poorly understood. Continue reading “Non-Aligned Capitalism”