The International Congress "G-Global. World of the XXI century" was held online from 18th to 20th November, 2020. Initiated by Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, G-Global is an international platform for the expert community to have interactive, open and public debates concerning global issues. The event regularly attracts leading global experts and high-level practitioners, Nobel Prize laureates and other public figures to discuss sustainable economic and trade growth, financial development, the potential of cities as international centers of knowledge and innovation.
CIRSD President Vuk Jeremic, who is also a General Advisor to the International Project of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev "G-Global", participated in the Plenary session of the Congress, alongside Secretary General of the Madrid Club Maria Elena Aguero and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rae Kwon Chung and other prominent figures.
During the session, Jeremic stated that humanity has yet to face the most difficult and complex moment of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, adding that "serious geopolitical turmoil with possibly drastic consequences” could happen in the following months.
"Vaccine availability is a rather challenging geopolitical game in which all countries have the same goal – to provide and distribute the vaccine before others. This could easily cause devastating consequences around the globe,” Jeremic said.
Jeremic compared geopolitics to economics, stating they both come in cycles.
"It is easier to notice and quantify economic cycles – they come and go, relatively quickly. Geopolitics is also subject to waves, but they tend to last longer. I am afraid that the decade behind us has been a decade of geopolitical recession," Jeremic explained, adding that the shock caused by the pandemic a threatens the current geopolitical recession into a depression, that could last for decades and lead to global conflicts.
Jeremic underlined that in the years to come the world is facing serious challenges that can be overcome only with more international cooperation.
"We should not reinvent the wheel, we should focus on the UN 2030 Agenda and fulfill the goals of sustainable development. Today, not a single country—anywhere in the world—is on track to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals by the target date of 2030," Jeremic added.
Jeremic also pointed to the emerging division between the two world leading powers – the United States and China.
"The rivalry is currently most manifest in the field of technology, but given the scope and importance of technology in our life, it threatens to spill over into every segment of society. In a few years from now, we could end up in rigidly divided blocks. We have to resist that by reembracing multilaterals." Jeremic concluded.
