Category: News

The Bridge Tank participates in the 2018 Horasis Global Meeting

Between the 5th and the 8th of May 2018, the Horasis Global Meeting was held in Cascais, Portugal. It was inaugurated by its founder and chairman Frank Jürgen-Richter, former right-hand man of the creator of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab.  

The Bridge Tank takes part every year in the Horasis Meeting, as well as in the Horasis China Meeting and the Horasis India Meeting. In 2018, the think tank was represented by Joël Ruet and a member of the Bridge Tank’s board, Pranjal Sharma, advisor at the Davos World Economic Forum and contributing editor to Business Standard & Business World.

One of the keynote speakers was Brice Lalonde, former French Minister of the Environment and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. He notably discussed with Rajendra K. Pachauri, former president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute. They were both speakers in a panel entitled: “Be Inspired – Tackling Climate Change”.

The Bridge Tank welcomes a delegation of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges

In April 2018, The Bridge Tank was honoured to welcome a delegation of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), China’s leading think tank, to our offices at the Palais Brongniart. The delegation was led by Zeng Peiyan, chairman of the CCIEE and Former Vice Premier of the State Council of China. The meeting between the two think tanks was followed a few days later by The Bridge Tank’s participation to the Boao Forum, of which the CCIEE is the official knowledge partner.

The Bridge Tank welcomes a delegation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

On April 23-24, 2018, The Bridge Tank welcomed a delegation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to the Palais Brongniart. The delegation was led by the Director General of the CAS’s Institute of Sustainable Development (CASISD), Pan Jiaofeng. The CAS was created in 1949 by then Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai and now gathers 106 research centres, 3 universities and over 50,000 academics and students.

A work session between the two institutions also gathered Brice Lalonde, former French Minister of Environment and former UN Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Coordinator of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, our board members Guillaume Henry and Raphaël Schoentgen, CTO of Engie, as well as Catherine Girard from Renault and the Chinese Embassy to France’s Minister Counsellor on technology.

Following the meeting, Joël Ruet, President of The Bridge Tank, and Pan Jiaofeng signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between their two organisations. CASISD is the official institute in charge of issuing long term national research strategic plans to the State Council of China.

The Bridge Tank at the opening ceremony of the Center for Trans-Regional Studies of the Belt and Road Initiative

On April 14-15, 2018, Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank took part in the annual conference on globalisation organised by Gayatri Spivak of Columbia University and Hari Vasudevan of Calcutta University. This year, the event was organised in partnership with the Kunming Academy in the Yunnan Province.

It was also there that the “Opening Ceremony of the Center for Trans-Regional Studies of the Belt and Road Imperative to Re-imagine the Silk Road” took place. As a partner of this initiative, The Bridge Tank was invited to the ceremony and Joël Ruet was appointed a member of the Center’s academic committee. The authorities of the Yunnan Province attended the inauguration. On the side of the Opening Ceremony, Joël Ruet gave a lecture at Yunnan Normal University.

The Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony
Hari Vasudean
The Conference on Globalisation
Gayatri Spivak

Joël Ruet speaks on Africa and South-South cooperation at the 2018 Crans Montana Forum

The 2018 Crans Montana Forum on Africa and South-South Cooperation took place in Dahkla, Morocco, between the 15th and the 20th of March, co-organized with the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and under the high patronage of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI. Among the speakers were Heads of State, Government members, representatives of regional and international organisations, members of parliaments and top businesses coming from Africa and worldwide, representing 162 countries in total.  

 

Joël Ruet intervened in several panels, including one entitled “Silk Road in Africa & Asia-Africa Partnerships”. Fellow keynote speakers included Bah Fisher, vice-President of the ECOWAS Parliament, and Adam Thiam, former spokesperson of the African Union Commission’s President. Ruet also held discussions with Goodwill Zwelithini, King of the Zulus, former President of Mali Dioncounda Traore and former Prime Minister of Romania, Petre Roman. 

Research Paper: One Belt One Road and the Reconfiguration of EU-China Relations

At the 2017 Davos Economic Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the merits of globalization and called for more effective measures and structural reforms to establish equitable governance and build new growth models. The “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) initiative has been accelerated with the Chinese presidency of the G20 in 2016 and advocates more inclusive regional cooperation and offers ambitious plans to further tighten connections across the Eurasian and North African continents.

This paper highlights the reconfiguration of EU- China relations and explains the evolution of the trading flows between the two actors under the “One Belt One Road” initiative.

Click here to Download the research paper.

The Bridge Tank attends the Davos World Economic Forum 2018

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

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

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.

Read more in french. 

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

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.

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