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The Atlantic basin faces considerable challenges on multiple fronts. Financial and economic struggles, coupled with political shifts and social turmoil, are reshaping the region’s geopolitical landscape. Unemployment, poverty, violence, migration, extremism, climate change and other problems are on the rise and the need to tackle them effectively is pressing.
To find adequate solutions to these challenges, it is crucial to create inclusive discussions between the North and the South of the Atlantic and the older and younger generations, representing the diverse realities around the basin.
Thus, the 2019 edition of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders (ADEL) program focused on bringing together a group of dynamic young leaders in order to identify the main issues surrounding the Atlantic region, and the ways to collectively come up with solutions. This report summarizes the discussions that took place during one of the workshops with the ADEL participants. This group of passionate leaders is made up of young people who have a strong sense of commitment to social, economic, and development issues within the wider Atlantic area. The fruitful discussions focused on the need to identify the major issues that exist around the Atlantic basin, and the urgency of finding effective solutions to face these challenges.
The Emerging Leaders focused on the importance of building a strong Atlantic community that is inclusive to countries of the global South. They were divided into three working groups with each focusing on one aspect of the challenges faced within the Atlantic space: economic, political, and social.
This exercise pushed the participants to look at the future of the region while exchanging ideas on the issues of the present. They were also invited to reflect on effective solutions that could ensure better prospects for the Atlantic community.
The Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders examined two main questions:
1. What are the main issues within the Atlantic basin?
2. What solutions can we come up with as an Atlantic community?
However, it is paramount to remember that these issues were discussed in a pre-COVID-19 context. The paradigm change that came with the coronavirus pandemic has shifted perspectives completely on both the issues and the solutions in the wider Atlantic, also challenging multilateralism, collective action, and global governance. Priorities today are most certainly different from what is highlighted in this report.
