The Club de Madrid, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and Center of Concern´s Rethinking Bretton Woods Project jointly organised a Conference on “A Global Shared Societies Agenda: A Strategy to promote social cohesion for sustainable development and growth” at the IMF-WBG Spring Meetings in April, 22nd, 2012 co-chaired by Club de Madrid Members John Bruton and Petre Roman and IMF’s Deputy Director of Strategy, Policy and Review Department, Hugh Bredenkamp. The meeting’s goal was to promote discussion among influential current and former policymakers and key thinkers in the context of the 2012 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In collaboration with SAPRI, the foundation led by Member Kumaratunga, and the Centre for Policy Research, the Club de Madrid – in the framework of its Shared Societies Project - held a Conference in New Delhi on “Delivering Inclusive and Sustainable Development” in April, 9 and 10 2012 to tackle the current challenges of reaching economic strength and resilience, while maintaining economic dynamism, political stability and building Shared societies in South Asia. Members Luis Alberto Lacalle, Andrés Pastrana and Cassam Uteem have participated as speakers, as well as Yaga Venugopal Reddy, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and member of NetPLUSS, Steve Killelea, Chair of the Institute for Economics and Peace and Sean Carroll, Chief Operation Officer and Member of the SSP Expert Advisory Group.

The Club de Madrid and the Maastricht School of Management hosted a Shared Societies International Workshop on “Can the Economics of Shared Societies Support more Resilient Economies and Global Sustainability?“ in Maastricht, The Netherlands, on 28th, 29th and 30th of March 2012.

The Club de Madrid has undertaken a survey mission to Peru in January (23-27) to identify a potential Shared Societies country implementation project. The Shared Societies programme officer, Carla Fernández-Durán, and Dr Werner Puschra, Executive Director of the New York Office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, have been exploring the possibility of taking the Shared Societies Project to Latin America, particularly to Peru.

The meeting of the Fourth Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, which mission is to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions, took place in Doha (Qatar) on 11-14 of December. The Alliance is a network for joint action and in the focus of this forum there was a sense that intercultural dialogue and positive inter-cultural relations can contribute to development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

The Club de Madrid was invited to co-launch the OECD’s Report on Perspectives on Global Development 2012: Social Cohesion in a Shifting World on November 21st in Paris.

Member Wim Kok, President of the Club de Madrid, opened the event together with Pier Carlo Padoan, Deputy Secretary-General and Chief Economist of the OECD. Both acknowledged the mutual interest of this collaboration.

Interview to Ricardo Lagos, Member of the Club de Madrid, in RFI Español (Only available in Spanish)

High-Level Mission to Juba led by Member Benjamin Mkapa on Women’s Leadership for Peace and Security in the Greater Horn of Africa

The Women’s Leadership for Peace and Security in the Greater Horn of Africa project held a High level Mission to the Republic of South Sudan (10-14 October) as starting point of its second phase (2011-2012). This mission was organized by the project partners Club de Madrid, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Isis – WICCE, with the support and collaboration of the Governments of Australia and Belgium. It was attended by civil society leaders, practitioners, government officials, parliamentarians and experts to examine women’s participation in peace and security dialogue and decision-making.

The Club de Madrid, the Center of Concern and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, have jointly organised the second conference this year at the International Monetary and Financial Institutions: “From Rising Inequalities to Shared Societies: The need to create a sustainable International Monetary and Financial System” , held on September 25 in Washington DC during the Annual Meetings of the IMF-World Bank.

Gallery of Pictures

The Secretary General of the Club de Madrid, Carlos Westendorp, met on Tuesday September 27th with Ahmed Néjib Chebbi, Secretary General of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) of Tunisia, during his visit to Madrid. They exchanged views on Tunisia’s transition period and explored opportunities for collaboration.

The Club de Madrid Members delegation participating at the 100th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Prime Ministers Wim Kok and Abdulkarim Al-Eryani, as well as Presidents Osvaldo Hurtado and Olusegun Obasanjo, paid Club de Madrid Member and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, a courtesy visit. 

15 June 2011, Geneva, Switzerland – Five Members of the Club de Madrid (Former heads of state and government from Ecuador, Ghana, Nigeria, Yemen and the Netherlands) addressed the need for a new era of social justice and sustainable and shared societies in the wake of the global financial and jobs crisis during two special events held at 100^th International Labour Conference on 14 and 15 June at the Palais de Nations.

“Lessons from the recent crisis for building sustainable and shared societies: Implications for the ILO” on Tuesday, 14 June

“The need for a new era of social justice” on Wednesday, 15 June

Read article by Wim Kok, President of the Club de Madrid

TUNISIA, 31 May 2011- Petre Roman, Former Prime Minister of Romania and Member of the Club de Madrid, met with Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Mr. Beji Caïd Essebsi, and Mr. Rafaa Ben Achour, delegate Minister to the Prime Minister, and exchanged views on Tunisia’s current transition period, the role of the press for a transparent and inclusive process, the roadmap to elections, and the constitutional process and political reform in order to build a Shared Society.