On Friday in Mexico City, CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić met with the leadership of Mexico’s energy ministry and its state oil and gas company PEMEX. They outlined Mexico’s strategic plan, proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto, to allow outside companies to compete for oil and gas contracts in Mexico, as well as participate in operating pipelines, refining and electricity generation. The plan would also allow private companies to drill for oil and hold concessions for the first time since the oil industry was nationalized in 1938. A number of ambitious strategic infrastructure projects, including pipelines to connect Mexico's Pacific Coast with the Gulf of Mexico, are integral parts of the plan.
Jeremić expressed his strong support for Mexico’s strategic energy vision. “Reforming the energy sector can serve as a catalyzer for transformational change in Mexico,” Jeremic said. “The positive effects of the energy reform package could have long-term benefits not only for Mexico, but for the world’s increasingly complex energy architecture,” he added.
Jeremić said that the additional revenues Mexico would receive as a result of the energy reforms could help propel the Latin American nation to the forefront of efforts to achieve sustainable development. “With the additional resources Mexico would have at its disposal, economic growth would accelerate and social spending increase, while greater attention could also be devoted to the critically important environmental dimension of the UN’s post-2015 sustainable development agenda,” Jeremić concluded.
Global Preventive Diplomacy Initiative Launched in New York Ahead of UNGA 80
New York, NY — The Global Preventive Diplomacy Initiative (GPDI) was launched at an exclusive event organized by the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) on the top floor of New York’s iconic MetLife Building, bringing together diplomats, philanthropists, business leaders, academics, and thought leaders for a conversation on the future of conflict prevention and international cooperation. The launch came just days before the opening of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which annually brings together heads of state and government for the High-Level General Debate — making New York the world’s diplomatic capital.
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Eighty years after its founding, the UN finds itself at a critical juncture. Its purpose is on trial, and its mission urgently requires recalibration. The world it inherited from the scorches of the Second World War no longer exists, yet many of the organisation’s practices remain rooted in a bygone era – out of sync with today’s realities and detached from those it was created to serve.
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CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić to SINA Finance: Multilateralism Will Evolve, Not Disappear
Below is the full text of the interview:
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