Webinar : Political Economy in the North-South relations amid COVID-19

May 22, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to the international community and is due to heavily impact the global economy in the short and long run. The virus has infected over 4 million people and caused almost 300.000 casualties globally. During its spreading, mass production hastily witnessed shutdowns and supply chain disruptions, causing worldwide undulation effects encompassing all economic sectors. A steep contraction in household consumption, rising inflation and unemployment rates, and an abrupt halt in global tourism are some of its most visible consequences. Resilience of national economies vis-à-vis the current situation varies widely depending on many factors, including containment measures’ efficiency and effectiveness as well as the economic support governments consider deploying. Yet, the highly interconnectedness of the world means that fighting the virus – and navigating its economic consequences – must include both national measures and global ones. In this webinar, we reflect on alternative options for economic recovery. Trade agreements, debt relief measures, impact investments, green strategies – these are just some of the instruments available in the toolbox. The panel will address ways in which existing and new channels for cooperation between the global north and south can be leveraged to achieve the best possible way out of the crisis, with a long-term outlook on what kind of global economy we want to rebuild.

Speakers
Otaviano Canuto
Senior Fellow
Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute. Former Vice President and Executive Director at the World Bank, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Vice President at the Inter-American Development Bank. ...
Rym Ayadi
Founder and Scientific Director, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association
Rym Ayadi is the Founder and President of the Euro – Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA). She is Founder and Director of the Euro-Mediterranean and African Network for Economic Studies (EMANES). She is Senior Advisor at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS); Professor at the Bayes Business School, City University of London and Member of the Centre for Banking Research (CBR); Chair of the European Banking Authority – Banking Stakeholders Group (EBA- BSG). She is also Associated Scholar at the Centre for Relationship Banking and Economics (CERBE) at LUMSA University in Rome. ...
Len Ishmael
Senior Fellow
Ambassador Dr. Len Ishmael is an affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University teaching the MSc course New South Dynamics, as well as Geopolitics and Geo-economics in the Joint HEC Paris/Public Policy School Executive Program. She is a Senior Fellow of the Policy Center for the New South, Distinguished Visiting Scholar of the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America and a Senior Fellow of the European Centre for Development Policy Management. Dr. Ishmael is the Global Affairs Advisor and Head of the Expert Groups of the Brussels Diplomatic Academy of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She is the former Ambassador of the Eastern Caribbean States to the Kingdom of Belgium and European Union, past President of the 79-member African, Caribbean & Paci ...
Ian Lesser
Vice President; Executive Director, Transatlantic Center, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Brussels
Staff Expert Ian Lesser Vice President, Foreign Policy; Executive Director, Transatlantic Center Brussels Expertise: Policy, NATO / Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Affairs / North-South Relations / Terrorism / Proliferation / International Security & Geopolitics / Energy Related Topics: Security and Defense, European Union, Wider Atlantic, Mediterranean , Mediterranean Strategy Group, Turkey, Grexit, NATO, NATO and the Mediterranean, Understanding America Ian Lesser is vice president for Foreign Policy at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and a member of GMF’s executive team, managing programs across the organization. He also serves as executive director of the Transatlantic Center, the Brussels office of GMF, and leads GMF’s work on the Mediterranean ...
Megan Richards
Visiting Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    July 2, 2019
    Quelle place l’Afrique occupe-t-elle dans le système de règlement des différends de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce ? Les règles et procédures régulant ce système profitent-elles aussi bien aux pays en développement qu’aux pays développés, ou restent-elles l’apanage de ces derniers ? Le continent africain a-t-il les moyens de faire fonctionner un tel système ? La place marginale qu’occupe l’Afrique dans le système est-elle due à des facteurs endogènes ou à des facteurs exogènes  ...
  • Authors
    June 10, 2019
    This article was originally published on Center for Macroeconomics and development's website Friday night, US President Donald Trump announced by Twitter that he would suspend the implementation of tariffs on Mexican imports, which would start with 5% on Monday, June 10, to reach 25% in October. A signed agreement between the two countries, also confirmed by Twitter by Mexico’s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, would have included Mexican government’s commitments to take “strong mea ...
  • Authors
    Juliana Suess
    May 24, 2019
    On the eve of Britain’s exit from the European Union, the country is redefining its international approach. The United Kingdom has already taken action by becoming involved in new economic commitments, new trade agreements in Commonwealth countries but also from a diplomatic point of view in West Africa. While development aid remains a focal point of its intervention in Africa, it risks being undermined by the Brexit and its economic consequences. However, the United Kingdom is now ...
  • Authors
    May 22, 2019
    The trade tensions between the United States and China will cause only minor immediate damage to their giant economies. However, tariffs have important and diverse effects on individual sectors and cause heightened uncertainty. The main adverse effects on Sub-Saharan Africa will therefore be through global investor confidence, economic growth and commodity prices, and these effects could be severe if the dispute escalates further and endangers the rules-based trading system. The tra ...
  • Authors
    February 6, 2019
    Ce papier examine la plainte initiée par la Turquie devant l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) contre le Maroc au sujet des droits antidumping appliqués aux produits d’acier laminés à chaud. La plainte de la Turquie constitue à la fois un précédent et une opportunité. Un précédant d’abord, car jamais le Maroc n’a été impliqué, ni en qualité de partie plaignante ni en qualité de partie défenderesse, dans une affaire devant le GATT ou l’OMC. Une opportunité ensuite, par ce que l ...
  • Authors
    Michael Baltensperger
    January 13, 2019
    China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an international trade and development strategy. Launched in 2013, it is one of the ways China asserts its role in world affairs and captures the opportunities of globalisation. The BRI has the potential to enhance development prospects across the world and in China, but that potential might not be realised because the BRI’s objectives are too broad and ill-defined, and its execution is too often non-transparent, lacking in due diligence and ...
  • December 13, 2018
    Moderator John Yearwood, Executive Board, International Press Institute Speakers Uri Dadush, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South Anabel Gonzalez, Former Minister of Foreign Trade, Republic of Costa Rica Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Founder and Chief Executive, International Centre...
  • December 13, 2018
    Moderator John Yearwood, Executive Board, International Press Institute Speakers Uri Dadush, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South Anabel Gonzalez, Former Minister of Foreign Trade, Republic of Costa Rica Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Founder and Chief Executive, International Centre...
  • Authors
    Axel Berger
    Andreas Freytag
    Simon J. Evenett
    Christian von Haldenwang
    Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz
    Raul Ochoa
    Agustin Redonda
    Karl P. Sauvant
    November 26, 2018
    *The recommendations put forth below have been published, both print and online, in the Financial Times.  The leaders of the G20 will meet on 30 November and 1 December in Buenos Aires for their annual summit. They need to acknowledge that the last two years have been characterized by strong headwinds for the world economy. This time, however, it is not a mixture of poor macroeconomic policies and bad business decisions – as in 2008 when they met in Washington for their first summi ...
  • Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    October 8, 2018
    « Amérique latine, crises et sorties de crises », telle était la première des deux thématiques des 6èmes Dialogues stratégiques, organisés le 4 avril par HEC Paris (Centre de géopolitique) et OCP Policy Center. Un tableau mitigé a été dressé, avec des signes de reprise et une croissance supérieure à 2 % qui n’empêchent pas des situations de crise comme au Brésil, au Nicaragua ou au Vénézuela. Crise d’un modèle d’oligarchies anti-capitalistes Au Vénézuela, la corruption paraît si e ...