The Conference got underway with an acknowledgement that savings have played a key role in maintaining Italy’s stability during the more acute phases of the recent financial crisis, and may play an even more important role now as a driver of the country’s economic recovery and growth.
The Secretary General laid out the most urgent priorities for the Alliance, in the run up to the new Strategic Concept which will be adopted at the November Summit in Lisbon. Besides the ongoing commitments – first and foremost the Afghanistan mission, which is almost certainly going through a decisive phase – there are great medium and long-term challenges in the effort to adapt NATO to a rapidly shifting global context.
The financial crisis has considerably modified the environment in which Italian firms operate. It has introduced new problems in the export sector that are related not only to structural changes in the capital markets but also to difficulties in accessing credit.
Federalism is now at the center of the Italian political debate, despite having been considered a heterodox if not inflammatory idea not even a decade ago. Reassigning roles and responsibilities among the different levels and bodies of government is a necessity shared by all advanced democracies given the increased complexity of our economies and of the relationship between citizens and the state.
Given the current uncertainty over the global economy’s recovery, interest in the prospects of the South American continent, which seems finally able to express its true potential, has increased. All too often the expectations over the EU / Latin American accords have been set too high. Today, the increase in commercial and financial exchange are guided by a bottom-up logic; promising forms of interdependence are emerging in a pragmatic way and are producing concrete benefits.
The roundtable session got underway with an acknowledgement by the participants of the crucial importance of reviving Italy’s artisan culture – a tradition synonymous with the production of high-quality goods through the accumulation, pooling and dissemination of know-how.
Identity is a word that has multiple connotations. Paradoxically, there is not just one but many kinds of identities, whose characteristics, origins and development processes are quite different from one another. Individual identity, for example, is often brought into question at the very moment it is affirmed: Saint Augustine explains that sense of doubt in fact characterizes the fundamental moments in one’s life. The ego becomes aware of itself by a process of elimination: I am all, minus that which I am not.
The event was introduced by the reflection on presentism, or the lack of collective attention in a country overly concerned with the present and which is losing its strategic vision. Presentism is the product of “real time” which has been brought on by technological advancement. Faced with weighing benefits in terms of quality of information and the growth of opportunities, the present has expanded and it has taken over our past and future. In this way, in economic terms, the world financial crisis came about due to an excessive focus on the short term.
At the same time as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, a seminar was held in Milan with Edward Tse, Booz & Company’s Chairman for Greater China and one of the major experts on the Chinese market. The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the economic context businesses find in China, as well as the Chinese government’s main choices in this phase of serious international gravity.
The last minute lifeline thrown to Greece to keep it from possible default opened a series of urgent questions on the future of the single currency, Europe as a political entity and, more in general, the relationship between finance and the real economy. The crisis concerned not only the precarious economic and social situation of Greece – which will inevitably have to pass through a period of deep-seated and predictably painful restructuring. It also shed light on the series of actions that should be taken to prevent possible contagion with other European countries.
The internet revolution has brought great changes to the communications industry, both in terms of infrastructures and contents. For infrastructures, the scenario shows a different level of investment, a change in keeping with regulation and new business models. Today’s prospects are for a Pan-European map that should provide guidelines for the sector’s new organization.
After the crisis, a new paradigm of development is emerging: more solid, anchored to shared values and projected to the construction of a future beyond the ordinary handling of the emergency. Over recent months, there has been discussion on the wave of moderate optimism brought on by commentators and economists, with figures in hand, to pronounce the imminent end of the economic and financial storm that occurred after 2008.
The debate centered around two main points: investment in knowledge and human capital, and research and innovation. These two issues are determining factors of growth and competitiveness and together they represent the basic needs to survive, revive the economy and meet the challenges of the future.
The seminar, divided into three sessions, studied the main institutional economic and social causes holding back adequate growth in the South and its ability to reach the levels of growth seen in the North.
The global economic crisis is reshaping the energy system in a fundamental way, as extraordinary events have occurred in a very short time span. Six issues appear the most crucial in the current context: i) the discovery of shale gas, a transformational event which was also a consequence of high natural gas prices. According to a recent account, this discovery could potentially turn the US into a permanent net exporter, with dramatic implications on the market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) which now seeks markets when global demand is contracting.
The theme of the Ninth Annual Conference of the Aspen Junior Fellows, held in Milan on May 7-8, was “Reconciling the environment and development. New ideas from the Y generation to beat weak economic growth”. The Conference proceedings were divided into three sessions which focused on: the ecological deficit and measures to establish cross-generational solidarity on environmental values; Italy’s energy strategies viewed from an international comparative perspective; and the environment and food security in a more crowded, hotter, and “flatter” world.
The roundtable session opened with an acknowledgement by participants that the processes of globalization have made the fight against crime more complicated. Criminal activities have spread worldwide, expanding with the internationalization of trade and growth in migration flows. At the same time, however, organized crime has maintained a strong local flavor, due to its embeddedness in local communities and its permeation into the fabric of society.
