Introductory Remarks Michael Schaefer, Chairman of the Board, BMW Foundation Check against delivery! A very warm welcome to the 1st Berlin Global Forum in this wonderful old grain silo in Berlin s largest port, the Westhafen. As you have seen, it was an exciting journey that has brought us to Berlin. Five BMW Foundation Global Tables, as we call these events, in China, Italy, Brazil, Poland, and Tanzania, have paved the way for this Forum. I would like to welcome in particular the more than 60 Global Table participants from all over the world. You have contributed tremendously to shaping this process. Both in Europe and in its neighboring regions, we are facing a multiplicity of complex challenges. Refugees, energy security, and global trade are of highest priority to all our societies. The Berlin Global Forum and the BMW Foundation Global Tables want to offer a space for a strategic dialogue on these and other global challenges, based on common interest and shared responsibility. This is our ambition. We are convinced that working together across national and sectoral borders is essential to mastering these complex problems. Berlin Berlin is a good place for such a strategic dialogue. It is a city with a troubled past that has made a strong recovery. Twenty-six years ago, the Berlin wall came down. It was a miracle brought about by people. Berlin is the symbol of the unification of Germany and Europe, but it is also a symbol of what people can achieve if they have a common sense of purpose and direction. Twenty-five years later, we hear some people call for new fences and new walls: to keep refugees and migrants from crossing European borders, to keep out the terror and violence in the Middle East, to build ideological walls against the influx of foreign cultures
and religions. Confronted with conflict and terror, people long for simple solutions. The result is a trend towards reinforcing the nation state, in some cases towards a new form of nationalism. Globalization has brought unprecedented opportunities, but it has also created new anxieties. We have been transformed from observers of far-away events to participants that are directly affected by what happens elsewhere: - Ebola threatens our societies because there are direct air links between the centers of the epidemic and our cities; - the civil war in Syria produces unprecedented numbers of people in need of protection knocking at our doors; - the effects of climate change in many parts of the world are likely to produce even larger numbers of migrants looking for shelter, food, and safety. Our countries, societies, and economies are so interconnected that major crises anywhere on the planet have an impact on countries around the world. We have become a global village! Foreign policy has become to a large extent global domestic politics. No single government, no single society can solve these challenges alone. We know that, of course. But we do not act on this knowledge. That must change. We need to unite forces within our societies and with other societies to develop joint strategies. We need to team up to start identifying joint opportunities for sharing the limited resources of our planet rather than build fortresses to defend our national interests. We need to rethink the global map of relationships. The new trend of our times must be the search for solutions based on a convergence of our national interests. This will require a change in our political thinking which still and even increasingly revolves around the nation-state and its interest. It will require much more systematic cooperation between neighboring regions with the goal of sharing responsibility beyond the borders of economic or political systems. It will require complementing the prime responsibility of governments with much more active participation from other actors like business and civil society. Forced to respond to ongoing crises, governments often fail to take a far-sighted strategic approach to developments that will change our societies and economies in the mid- or long-term. Business and civil society should assume a more active role and support governments in doing just that. Indeed, what will be required is a systemic change a new understanding, a pact between government, business, and society. The Berlin Global Forum wants to offer a space for this kind of strategic cooperation.
Europe Europe can and should be a leader in that endeavor. Like no other region, we have put conflict and war behind us by building a Union on the basis of common values and of common interest. But today, twenty-five years after German unification, this most important event in our lifetime, Europe is struggling. The EU has shouldered an enormous burden by integrating its new member states nations with different histories and different expectations, but nations that wanted to be part of an unprecedented regional process. A process which has become a trademark for peace and prosperity: the European Union. The enlargement process was undertaken quickly, may be too quickly. Many people in the new EU member states have started to realize that integration is not a one-way street. They had to transfer a part of their sovereignty to the EU even before they had time to find their own national identity after decades of dependence on the Soviet Union. At the same time, Europe is also confronted with major internal and external challenges: the global financial crisis, Greece, the conflict over Ukraine, the refugee crisis. This mix of very serious problems has created a sense of insecurity and fear among our citizens, which has undermined confidence in the European Union and provoked a nationalist backlash. This trend must be reversed. It must be reversed because it is the opposite of what we need in order to successfully deal with the multiple regional and global challenges. A united Europe has a crucial role to play by building bridges and by contributing to solutions. Europe is capable of building such bridges. Our contribution to the recent Iran agreement is proof of this. We initiated the negotiations over extremely controversial issues in 2003, and we contributed significantly to their successful conclusion twelve years later. We need to translate these lessons into political processes that aim to offer solutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, Libya or Syria. And to challenges like energy security or climate change. Europe needs partners But Europe, of course, needs partners if it wants to exercise global responsibility. The bipolar world of the Cold War is gone, but the multipolar order has not yet become a reality. The developing world order will continue to be a hybrid one for some time. During this time, the US will be the only global power. Irrespective of disagreements over important issues like free trade, data protection, or Guantanamo, the transatlantic partnership will remain key, because the US and Europe still have the widest convergence of values and interests.
The Obama administration may be reluctant to take the lead on every global issue understandable after the American experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is in Europe s best interest for the US to continue to be ready to engage. Ukraine and Iran are pointing in the right direction. Russia, our biggest neighbor to the East, remains crucial for Europe. Moscow s decision to return to the geopolitics of the past century is disturbing, as it challenges the very foundations of the post-cold-war European order, which is based upon the principle of the inviolability of borders. The friction over Ukraine will therefore not disappear without significant changes in Russia s attitude. As the successful Iran deal has underlined, however, disagreement on one front must not exclude cooperation on another. This may sound utilitarian but it is an undeniable fact. To find a solution in Syria, which is one major source of the massive flows of refugees, one will have to include Russia, in addition to regional powers like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. China is on its way to developing a global footprint. But China will need at least another two generations to stabilize its domestic development. Today, China s readiness to engage globally is still largely determined by its desire to secure much-needed energy and other resources; in the medium-term future, however, it is likely to play an increasingly bigger role on the global stage. For the EU China is a key partner already. We have become important trading partners for each other and share an interest in the stability of the vast Central Asian region: the One Belt, One Road initiative is, therefore, a fascinating project which Europe should actively explore. The other BRICS will need even more time to develop into global powers. But they have already become important regional players. India, Brazil, South Africa, and other emerging economies like Mexico, Turkey or Indonesia are indispensable partners for Europe when it comes to striving for sustainable solutions, whether it is about fighting climate change or poverty or about building a more just and participatory international system of governance based on the rule of law. It is important for Europe to hear their voices, to understand their legitimate interests, and to take these interests into account, for instance when implementing the Sustainable Development Goals recently adopted by the United Nations. When we talk about emerging economies, we should use the term as a synonym for all those societies that need to be part of the various processes to tackle regional and global challenges. That will require a new openness and determined leadership in building partnerships of common purpose and trust. Europe should be open for such a dialogue that aims to build trust not only at the level of governments, but also at the level of societies and business. The BMW Foundation Global Table process and the Berlin Global Forum seek to offer a space for that process of trust building. The BMW Foundation Global Table process
The Global Tables small-format meetings of some 24 decision-makers representing all regions of the world and all sectors of society offer a framework for strategic reflection. They allow creative minds to escape their professional environment and invite them to think out-of-the-box or putting the box away! Taking place at magic places around the world, the Global Tables look at burning challenges that hold a global dimension. By listening to each other and by trying to understand what our respective interests are and where a convergence of interests could lie, the participants focus on one key aspect: Where do we see opportunities for sustainable solutions? At this first Berlin Global Forum, we are going to look into three very different, important issues from one specific angle: that of sharing responsibility. I would like to invite you not to remain stuck in your usual mindsets, defending your own position, but to try to think in new directions. Today s slogans like Wir schaffen das! or Yes we can! are quickly criticized or even ridiculed. But it is necessary to think in new directions if we want to overcome old stalemates. Taking responsibility to build such frameworks is not a question of developed or less developed countries. It concerns all our societies, albeit in different ways. This is why we have to team up, trying to understand where we can contribute, how we can connect, how we can pool our capabilities with the objective of opening opportunities for all of us. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am grateful that we have three eminent personalities who are going to introduce the three topics of this Forum. Minister Peter Altmaier, Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Prof. Wang Yiwei. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today. Let s make the 1st Berlin Global Forum a space to tear down walls, to have an open exchange among equals, and to generate ideas for strategic direction. I wish all of us a very productive day.