8 - 9 December 2022
Bangkok, Thailand
This panel session will explore critical factors projected to shake, shift or shape the global landscape, and to what extent these may constrain choices and shape opportunities for nation-building. Which scenarios of the ‘world’ and ‘lives’ exist in the post-crisis era? Scenarios of the world in 2022 are projected in the context of the contest between the US and China – the East and the West – which is still in horizon; the recovery of the world economy after COVID-19 is expected to begin; the rise of nationalism and inward-looking policies that might challenge global cooperation. How will these factors change and impact nation-building in 2022?
Since the COVID crisis, countries across the world have been pushed into serious economic downturn. Key questions remain as to how countries can navigate the way to recovery, restore the position to pre-pandemic levels and continue their nation-building efforts. This endeavor requires innovative economic policies that are not only addressing economic recovery, but also strengthening nation-building vision. This challenge is made harder due to the abnormal conditions caused by the global impact of the pandemic. Leaders and experts will creatively address such situations through economic policies and macro development strategies.
COVID-19 has had severe effects which have transcended industries and national borders. On the one hand, a growing number of challenges in business ecosystems that require new ideas and new modes of operation in the post-crisis era have pushed businesses to find innovative strategies for recovery in a sustainable manner. On the another hand, businesses also need to work in a more synergistic way to help build their nation, moving it into a stronger position with a more resilient society that is better able to withstand future cataclysms. This session aims to address:
COVID-19 has brought some positive impacts. Changes in how we live and how we do business have been witnessed. Examples include virtual or remote working, online commerce, accelerating the adoption of business technologies, and, wide uses of digital channels to serve a larger share of customers. Many companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions as well as their internal operations. These normally require 3-4 years to implement but many have successfully made it happen in the one year of the COVID pandemic. Also, some organizations have fully seized the innovative opportunities that come during a crisis to use change to gain an advantage. Accordingly, this session discusses the following issues:
The fact is realized that COVID has necessitated many industries to rely less on people and more on technologies such as digitalization, online-based, Artificial Intelligence, automation, and robotics. Business and government leaders have been challenged to both respond to the crisis and rethink their workforce strategies. The pandemic has created an imperative and opportunities for organizations to reengage with the workforce and reinvent the way a country should manage manpower. Challenges also remain within current education systems in terms of how to best manage our current manpower and nurture future generations. This session should address the following questions:
COVID has changed our healthcare practices and the ways in which we take care of ourselves and interact with others. Health measures to control the COVID spread have affected the way we work and live i.e. social distancing concerns, work-from-home policies, etc. While physical distancing has proven effective in reducing COVID contagions, it directly undermines real-world social interactions, networks, and bonds among people. This highlights the importance of wellness which is multidimensional and offers holistic health, happiness, and well-being. In light of crisis recovery, wellness shall become central to development. Promotion of wellness will ensure robust and sustainable recovery from the pandemic. This session then discusses the following key issues:
The Covid-19 crisis is the greatest test of global solidarity. It has reminded us of the fact that a global pandemic needs global cooperation to manage the spread of the disease globally. Although some effects of the pandemic have impacted nationally, the solution required is at an international level. The pandemic calls for a strong, coordinated, international response that rapidly expands access to tests, treatments and vaccines, recognizing extensive immunization as a global public good, which is available and affordable for all. As the world moves into recovery stage, we demand new smart strategies and responses that will create sustainable recovery. Thus, the session discusses:
Without collaboration and cooperation, we are unlikely to tackle the pandemic in a successful way and bring about sustained recovery. Cross-sectoral collaboration between the public, private, and people sectors within a country and cross-border cooperation is necessary. Cross-sectoral collaboration goes beyond knowledge and information sharing. It requires substantive actions rather than merely talking. Leaders and experts in this session will search for innovative solutions and good practices for cross-sectoral collaboration, those which the world really needs for recovery. What would be effective measures, mechanisms, systems, or incentives for recovery that could institutionalize good efforts for nation-building?
The long term economic consequences of the COVID pandemic have exacerbated the political and social crises that were already underway and this has created demand for a new social and political contract. The crisis has led to millions of people losing their jobs, and many more to fall into poverty. Young people, minorities and women have been particularly affected. This is devastating on an individual level but also has broader societal, political and economic impacts, affecting social cohesion, access to social services, labour market participation, productivity, inequalities and economic growth. Such events and their aftermath can sometimes lead to political upheaval if governments cannot manage the consequences of crisis well. The crisis has also been accompanied by strong calls to put considerations of equity and sustainability at the centre of policy response, both in the immediate instance and in moving towards the recovery and rebuilding phases. At the centre of these needs for change is the call to rethink and reframe the social and political contract as well as the role of redistribution to build a society that works for all. This session deals with: