Pascal Lamy talks bridging global gaps

Pascal Lamy, President of the Paris Peace Forum: Bridging global gaps

Lamy says that different kinds of global gaps are widening. The economic divide between rich and emerging countries is increasing. For the first time in 50 years, COVID has interrupted the long-term convergence in growth rates between rich and poor countries. More poverty creates more suffering, and hence more social and political tensions.

A new climate divide is also appearing. Time horizons for zero net carbon are different, ranging from 2050 to 2070. For countries who have such a time horizon, carbon peaks take place at different periods. Policy tools such as taxation, emission trading system, regulation, various incentives are different and this will likely result in a more unlevelled playing field for international trade.

Although COVID has accelerated the digitalization of our economic and social systems, digital capacity gaps are widening among countries. In many parts of the world, skills and production systems will have to be profoundly reshaped. It will be a turbulent transition. The correct response to these gaps is to bridge them, using tech as an essential element. We must build these bridges together, working to create more reciprocal trust in tech and to find the necessary compromises between our different systems.