Franck Riboud

Franck Riboud

Congratulations: the topics you have chosen to work on are the right subjects. These are the stakes that are going to change the world tomorrow. But, while discussing, be sure of the reasons why you are talking about these topics: the WHY is what really matters. Is it to make more money? Wrong answer. Is it to be more efficient? Wrong answer. Is it to really build the futur of the world? Yes, that is the right answer.


Danone
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Danone
Danone
France

Dr. Jacques Bughin

Dr. Jacques Bughin

Many summits are show horse, not workhorses. Many summits have too many people gathering to listen to big figures, but in an impersonal building. Many summits are just an excuse for a good escape and business card exchange, but not about days of learning about themes/new people. A great summit - is the one where you learn new things, you meet new peers, and you get inspired- all that with a zest of close community, and of marvelous natural surroundings and arts. The G-20Y Summit is just that, especially for the set of young leaders ready to take a step up in their career, and build new leadership.

It has been a pleasure and honor to attend the G-20Y Summit and support the G-20Y Association.


McKinsey, McKinsey Global Institute
Senior partner, Director
McKinsey, McKinsey Global Institute
Belgium

Rachel Barger

Rachel Barger

I'm most certainly going to take back my experience at the G-20Y Summits to my customers and to my company. The more people we can have come into environment like this, the more diverse ideas we can have on how we leverage the power and the opportunities that exist with digital transformation.


SAP
COO SAP Asia Pacific Japan
SAP
Singapore

Daniele Agostini

Daniele Agostini

I have been moderating and facilitating a large number of sessions across the world and it is the first time that I find such type of diversity of very focused and motivated people - it is really a great thing about the G-20Y Summit!


ENEL
Head of Low Carbon and European Energy Policies
ENEL
Italy

Gregor Pilgram

Gregor Pilgram

The G-20Y Summit is a unique platform for insurers, where many insurance sector representatives from all over the world could meet.


Generali
Chief Financial Officer - Austria, CEE & Russia Region
Generali
Czech Republic

Barbara Kreissler

Barbara Kreissler

I feel very honored that G-20Y Organizing Committee has asked me to be part of this. I’m really excited just reading the program, the agenda and the list of participants on the kind of interaction and discussions that we are going to have on global issues that affect us all. 


Signify
Director, B2G Professional Lighting, Global Public & Government Affairs
Signify
Netherlands

Olga Ryabova

Olga Ryabova

I loved the whole idea of top executives coming from different industries and delivering their professional experience to make the best of recommendations for G20 countries heads and for international organizations. You know there was such mood of cooperation, of future understanding I would say. That was really great. 


Former Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Rosbank
Independent expert
Former Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Rosbank
Russian Federation

Onur Taysu

Onur Taysu

G-20Y Summit brings a magnificent group of people together who have adopted a global philosophy and perspective.

The G-20Y Association has utilized an effective selection process and following this selection came an in-depth work, consultation, evaluation and idea-sharing platform. In my opinion, G-20Y Summit is an efficient international think tank and networking platform that will mark the future.

The way the Summit was organized enabled me to learn and at the same time, thanks to the positive synergy existent, led me to contribute as well.

I would like to congratulate everyone who contributed and who attended the summit. I wholeheartedly will continue to support the G-20Y Summits and the G-20Y Association.


UCOM Global GmbH
Deputy Chairman of the Board / CEO
UCOM Global GmbH
Germany

Holger Erchinger

Holger Erchinger

I believe the vision of the G-20Y Summit is to make a real and independent contribution regarding what the young generation of business leaders think around the issues the G20 has on its agenda. The G-20Y Summit brings together devoted participants from around the globe with diverse professional backgrounds onto a platform of creative thinking in order to develop some fresh ideas regarding potential solutions.


KPMG LLP New York
Audit Partner
KPMG LLP New York
United States

Jorge Lukowski

Jorge Lukowski

I think the most important thing is to have different cultures, different people, different companies with different interests and all of them in different committees; that they are working together, merging ideas and arrive at consensus. And I think the young perspective which is a different thing – we don't need to make recommendations under any precision of politics or different kind of pressure you have if you are only a company or if you are only representative of government. So I think we can have an opportunity to be fresh, innovating, and creative in order to present a proposal that more recommendations could be actions. I think that the young people would like to take action more than make recommendations.

 


President & Founder
Simple Communications
President & Founder
Argentina

Ekaterina Petelina

Ekaterina Petelina

The whole idea of G-20Y Summit is that young people bring their ideas that might be controversial, that might be a little provocative, but are fresh. And they share it with the business community. I think and I hope that what we accomplished during these three days will actually be meaningful and will impact the decisions and discussion of G20 leaders.

I just have a habit – wherever someone asks “who?”, I just put my hand up.  And this is not the best habit I have but when they asked the volunteer to be Co-Chair – I just thought that I have relevant experience as a former consultant, as a former Head of Strategy of VTB group and a business leader now. I think I have the relevant experience to talk about financial stability and financial regulation, which was the topic of our committee. And I think it’s a very important topic and it’s really one of the top items on G-20Y Summits agenda. Because without financial stability as we’ve seen before it’s really impossible to deliver growth, to deliver prosperity. I really enjoyed working with our committee members, we had ten people from different countries, different economies: Europe, UK, Russia, Malaysia, and Japan. It was interesting to see what similarities we have, what differences we have and different and similar ideas that we share. I think it really enriched my understanding of the industry at the global level and I believe we were able to deliver some meaningful and practical recommendations.

The most interesting moment for me of the Summit was the dancing master-class, because I’d never thought that you can learn how to dance tango in 30 minutes. I think our teachers did a very good job: very simple moves that everybody could repeat and learn within 30 minutes. It was a very good G-20Y and a very fast delivery of results.

 


VISA
General Director
VISA
Russian Federation

Philipp von Girsewald

Philipp von Girsewald

I think it's great to have young business leaders, participating in the G-20Y Summit, who come together from a broad variety of expertise and cultural background, and who come together to discuss certain topics of particularly interest at these times and who try to find the solutions. I think it is not important to have technical expertise in each of the subjects, discussed at the G-20Y Summit. I think it's great to bring in your general expertise, your cultural background and a lot of common sense to come to some proposals which otherwise couldn’t be brought up.


Deposit Solutions
CEO US
Deposit Solutions
United States

Rolf T. Pasel

Rolf T. Pasel

You have many business meetings during the year, you have many seminars where you learn something, but these are always in your industry with the same people talking about the same topics. So bringing together business leaders from different industries, geographies, different levels across the G20 – this is interesting. I mean you don't often have the opportunity to talk freely, open-mindly about these kind of topics and discuss the challenges and thoughts of G20 of today.

The Co-Chairing was an interesting experience, because in the end of the session you had a different perspective, different people to integrate. I thought about it before doing the Co-Chairing: one of the important things is not to lose somebody during the process.

 


Atos International
Senior Vice President Global Solutions
Atos International
France

Frank Klaas

Frank Klaas

Arriving here I saw very fascinating group of people, acting together, discussing together and for me the first step towards understanding G-20Y was to see that this is like a market place where international global people can, without borders in thinking, be together and this is for me the most important aspect.

G-20Y for me stands for creating a global world of communication. We don`t have problems understanding each other and we are probably not creating results, but we are creating the right solutions to create results in the future.

My job was always communication; I’m probably an expert in crisis communications. I think G-20Y is a fascinating opportunity, where people can start to communicate and start to discuss with each other, have the opportunity to meet people from Europe, from Brazil, Australia or Russia, and Italy, and Spain and to share experiences. That is the fascinating world of G-20Y.

I’m a part of a huge financial organization. The whole financial world is today seen a lot in the media. We have here the opportunity to show that we are interested to have a dialog with a lot of people who want to change the world, to develop a new way of acting together. I think it’s very important not only for me but especially also for the industry to have this opportunity to be in an international dialog. I think it’s a great opportunity!


Deutsche Börse Group
Managing Director Global Public Affairs
Deutsche Börse Group
Germany

Ananthakrishnan C. Bhoopathy

Ananthakrishnan C. Bhoopathy

It's a really good opportunity for people from India because this is the second time we had a delegation to G-20Y Summit. I'm only one person but I hope that probably the message from us will be that more and more Indian participants should be here, because it gives real good chance to interact with people from many countries and to get to know all sorts of issues, global issues which are current and which need to be addressed in future.

The evening events were really enjoyable – especially the day before we had concert over here – it was really enjoyable.

 


Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Additional General Manager (Finance)
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
India

Manuel Ortigao

Manuel Ortigao

Having read the information that was sent to me I immediately concluded that it’s a very interesting organization with very ambitious objectives and for me to be part of the G-20Y Summit would be a challenge and I immediately accepted the invitation and I`m very happy to be here.

I expect that we will be able to put together a few recommendations to the G20 governments and that these recommendations will contribute to improving the working conditions and living conditions of citizens across the world. 


European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Reseach Manager, Working Conditions and Industrial Relations (WCIR)
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Ireland

Anton Kotov

Anton Kotov

I think we all, participants of G-20Y Summit, care about our planet and we are not indifferent to what is happening in the world.

The organization is fabulous. I can only say the words of compliments and I have been very impressed with both: the quality of participants and the way the event is organized.

I would be very delighted to continue and I definitely recommend this event to my colleagues in Schneider.


Schneider Electric
Corporate Strategy & Development Director
Schneider Electric
France

Valerie Diele-Braun

Valerie Diele-Braun

Having been nominated by DSM, I felt very honored to be able to attend this event as it had always been a dream for me to participate in such a venue. The G-20Y is for me the small version of the WEF and a learning ground for young executives to exchange thoughts and ideas, make connections and work on the future with other smart people. Having more and more burning issues in the world, such as the economic crisis, the change of demographics and the environmental shifts to name just a few, I think it’s fantastic to exchange views with a wide variety of people and to come up with suggestions that might help to shape our future positively.


Royal DSM
Head Sales & Product Management Personal Care
Royal DSM
Netherlands

Ann Haugh

Ann Haugh

Thank you so much for a challenging, entertaining and worthwhile G-20Y Summit event. I thoroughly enjoyed the people, the atmosphere and the challenging opportunity presented to us.


Zurich Global Corporate
Chief Executive Officer
Zurich Global Corporate
United Kingdom

Paolo Sarcinelli

Paolo Sarcinelli

It's pleasure for me to be invited for the G-20Y Summit. It's been interesting two and a half days of work. There was a lot of discussion. I think at the end we have been in a position to have a positive dialogue between different members of the Committee. And we have been able to find and put together a nice compromise on a number of controversial matters.


Intesa Sanpaolo
Head of Credit of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's International Subsidiary Banks Division
Intesa Sanpaolo
Italy

Alistar Rose

Alistar Rose

We are fortunate that we had participants across a multiple different countries across the world, from different types of organisations, from different sectors. We had a very interesting lively debated times. I think it was of a very high quality. I realized the depth of the conversation to be going on in the each of different committees. I think the whole concept behind the G-20Y is great.


Tesco Plc
International Director for Telecoms
Tesco Plc
United Kingdom

Kartini Sally

Kartini Sally

The working process was wonderful. Because we can see a lot of people from other countries: Brazil, from Malaysia, even from UK –a UK person works in China, he shared his experience in China and also from US. We share all information and all the practices of how to fight corruption in our country. We are very surprised that there is actually only one conference – United Nation Conference about fighting corruption and also UOECD conference against bribery.  But I think not all the countries have ratified and implemented the conference, maybe  we should give some views, some recommendations that all G20 countries and other countries can implement the United Nation Conference and UOECD conference against bribery. There have been discussions that fighting corruption, money laundering and also bribery and financial terrorism are linked together, so every country should be aware about these issues, this not only a problem of developed countries.

My president  attended G-20Y Summit last year in Mexico, he asked senior level manager in Bank Mandiri, he shared his views of G20 of last years, so this is a good opportunity. We are going to send our senior manager to G-20Y Summit.

I think it's a very good opportunity for me to attend G-20Y Summit. This is first time I have attended an international Summit with different views and different subjects. I usually attend workshops or meetings about banking, just only banking but there are more issues we can discuss together. 


Bank Mandiri
Executive Vice President
Bank Mandiri
Indonesia

Caio Ramos

Caio Ramos

For me it was a big honor to come here because I think it's a good forum in which many countries in the world including the emerging countries can discuss and debate all the problems that they have and try to come up with some suggestions for the future. 


Suape Port and Industrial Complex
Vice President
Suape Port and Industrial Complex
Brazil

Mathieu Staniulis

Mathieu Staniulis

I think G-20Y is such an important event in the world because as the young leaders we have to tell the world what we think and what we should accomplish in the next few years, because we have a responsibility to make things change and make a better world.

I worked on the “City of tomorrow” Committee – we had a broad issue to talk about, we tried to figure out what the city of tomorrow would be like and one of the things that I’m very happy to see in the result is that we talked about local communities – how we should design the cities of tomorrow with strong local communities where you can actually get involved as a citizen in your community to share services and actually go further with the challenges the city now faces.

The G-20Y events are nice because you actually have a lot of real work during the day it's so much fun to work with a bunch of people from all around the world with different backgrounds – this is very interesting. And then at night you can socialize, talk to those same people by the way with a more personal feel – this makes the entire experience, so much fun.

My favorite event was the opening Gala ceremony. Our company Desjardins, we got an award for our 3-year friendship with the G-20Y. So it was quite nice experience for us to receive that award. 


Desjardins
Senior Director, Internet and Mobile Solutions
Desjardins
Canada

Irina Bakhtina

Irina Bakhtina

There was no question of whether to participate or not actually when the invitation arrived because, for our company, it is incredibly important what exactly is on G20 agenda, not only this year, but in general. Over the last period of time Unilever was Co-Chairing the “Food security” Committee on the B20 initiatives in Rio with a quite valuable contribution, I hope, to the Communiqué which was produced by this committee. For us food security is not just an empty word and we really look to this agenda and how it’s being approach by the government on the G20 level.

What was specifically interesting about the Summit, actually, was the combination of participants which attended. The executive level of the biggest international corporations and some of the real big and significant Russian corporations, as soon as we are in Russia we are speaking about this, representatives of the international non-governmental organizations as well. I believe, this is an incredible group of people, I believe, team of people, who got together in St. Petersburg are really invested their time, not having to open e-mail and stuff which we left behind in office, but really invested our time, being focused on the agenda, which is with us today; and really trying to share the best ideas, many fresh ideas by the way, the most creative ideas I’ve ever heard, on those important areas of real G20 interests.

The program is really sophisticated: dance master-classes, the whole atmosphere of the classical music, combination of it and really amazing atmosphere of the city itself. It's the best season in the city. I believe it's something that going to be quite memorable. 


Unilever Rus Ltd.
Communications Director Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
Unilever Rus Ltd.
Russian Federation

Jose Joao Batista Stival Jr.

Jose Joao Batista Stival Jr.

It`s important to be here: from the political part and also from the private part.

It's a unique experience to meet 20 countries partners and discuss the same themes. It’s shows that we are going to the same direction – we want to have the same result. For sure a discussion of the mid or long term will be useful for me and for Brazil and for all the countries. 

About the organisation I just have to say that everything is perfect!


Cooperfrigu
Export Director and New Business Development
Cooperfrigu
Brazil

Raimund Kirchleitner

Raimund Kirchleitner

In my eyes, the G-20Y Summit is a unique opportunity to interact and communicate to motivated young ambitious c-executives; and to also interact with people from other business sectors.

I think it is super important to have the young generation of c-executives round one table at such aconference to exchange ideas,and to forward these ideas to those who are really on the steering-wheel regarding the future of our planet. I believe by havingworked out our papers we can somehow, let’s say contribute to the future and a better development of the world, whereby in our working group`s case especially regarding the financial world.

I believe it was quite useful, quite interesting, even if we were discussing theoretical topics mainly,but this is the purpose of this one. It was in any case also interconnected withreal life and with taking concrete action in the future. I was also able to extend my network, meet interesting people, which I will follow up with in the future. I found it quite useful, also to experience St. Petersburg, which is truly a nice place for this event. I also enjoyed very much the side events.

My favorite one was the yachting regatta – it was really good fun. We had perfect weather, even if we were lacking wind, so we were not really going that fast, but nevertheless it was good fun. Unfortunately we only got the second place – so we were the first loser. But nevertheless it was not really about competition – it was much more about fun and communication. For me it was alsoa nice opportunity to have my daily swim in the Gulf of Finland. I really enjoyed it very much.

 


St. Moritz Bäder AG
Chief Executive Officer
St. Moritz Bäder AG
Switzerland

Alastair Grier

Alastair Grier

G-20Y benefitted both me personally and also RBS. The different cultures and points of views were interesting and refreshing. What came out most is that the challenges that our customers have in the UK are also the same challenges that customers have in many different countries from India to France. This gave me excellent insight into new solutions for our customers and also into how RBS could better support at a macro level, the UK economy. 


The Royal Bank of Scotland
Chief Operating Officer of Business & Commercial Banking
The Royal Bank of Scotland
United Kingdom

G-20Y Summit 2015 Online

G-20Y Summit 2015 Opening Ceremony

August 27, 2015

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From left to right: Ksenia Khoruzhnikova, G-20Y Association Founder and President and Franck Riboud, Keynote Speaker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Danone
From left to right: Ksenia Khoruzhnikova, G-20Y Association Founder and President and Franck Riboud, Keynote Speaker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Danone
Franck Riboud, Keynote Speaker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Danone
Franck Riboud, Keynote Speaker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Danone
Prof. Dr. Holger Erchinger, G-20Y Association Advisory Board Co-Chair
Opening Panel participants from left to right: Prof. Dr. Holger Erchinger, G-20Y Association Advisory Board Co-Chair, Partner KPMG LLP; Dr. Christoph Frei, Opening Panelist, Energy Markets Committee, Secretary General, World Energy Council, Dr. Patrik Kolar, Opening Panellist, Food Security Committee Speaker, Head of Unit Agri-Food chain, European Commission; Dr. Dirk Lubig, Opening Panellist, Global Financial Industry – Banking Subcommittee, Managing Director, Group Strategy, Deutsche Bank AG; Mark Purdy, Opening Panellist, Global Demographic Developments Committee Speaker, Managing Director and Chief Economist, Accenture Institute for High Performance; Linda Kromjong, Opening/Closing Panellist, Creating Jobs Committee, Secretary General, International Organization of Employers; Jonas Kjellstrand, Opening Panellist,  Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee, Strategy Officer, SAS Institute
Dr. Patrik Kolar, Opening Panellist, Food Security Committee Speaker, Head of Unit Agri-Food chain, European Commission
Dr. Dirk Lubig, Opening Panellist, Global Financial Industry – Banking Subcommittee, Managing Director, Group Strategy, Deutsche Bank AG
Mark Purdy, Opening Panellist, Global Demographic Developments Committee Speaker, Managing Director and Chief Economist, Accenture Institute for High Performance
Jonas Kjellstrand, Opening Panellist,  Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee, Strategy Officer, SAS Institute
Jonas Kjellstrand, Opening Panellist,  Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee, Strategy Officer, SAS Institute
Linda Kromjong, Opening Panellist, Creating Jobs Committee, Secretary General, International Organization of Employers
Dr. Christoph Frei, Opening Panelist, Energy Markets Committee, Secretary General, World Energy Council
Dr. Christoph Frei, Opening Panelist, Energy Markets Committee, Secretary General, World Energy Council
Energy Markets Committee Term and Annual Co-Chairs from right to left: Zoe Yujnovich, G-20Y Association Program Committee Member, Term Co-Chair, Vice President Oil Sands Operations, Shell; Nicola Melchiotti, Program Committee Member, Term Co-Chair, Area Manager, Mexico and Central America, Enel Green Power and Vincent Duffy, Annual Co-Chair, Executive Director Energy Markets & Programs Division, Department of State Development, South Australia Department of Treasury and Finance
Energy Markets Committee members
Food Security Committee Term Chair Prof. Mehdi Doroudi, Agriculture, Food and Wine/Fisheries and Aquaculture, Group Executive Director Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia, Government of South Australia, Australia and Annual Co-Chairs from left to right: Dr. Prisca Havranek-Kosicek, Vice President Treasury, Royal DSM, Shirley Xie, Food Supply and Integrity Service Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers International
Food Security Committee members
Global Financial Industry Committee – Banking Subcommittee members
Global Financial Industry Committee – Banking Subcommittee members  from left to right:  Christan Reusch, Annual Co-Chair, Senior Vice President, Co-Head of Global Syndicate, UniCredit Bank AG;  Kwabena Ayirebi, Annual Co-Chair , Regional Head, Middle East and North Africa, Global Trade & Receivables Finance, HSBC; James Ruane, Program Committee Member, Term Chair, Managing Director, Group Strategy (AfK), Deutsche Bank
Global Financial Industry Committee – Insurance Subcommittee Annual Co-Chairs from left to right: Gregor Pilgram, Chief Financial Officer, Generali PPF Holding B.V. and Patrick Barbeau, Senior Vice President, Personal Lines, Intact Insurance Company
Global Financial Industry Committee – Insurance Subcommittee members
Creating Jobs Committee members
Creating Jobs Committee members Term Сhair Olga Ryabova, Program Committee Member, Former Deputy Chairwoman of the Board, Rosbank and Annual Co-Chairs from left to right: Benay Bitirici, Annual Co-Chair, Deputy General Manager (Commercial Group), Koçtaş Yapı Marketleri A.Ş. (DIY retailer, Joint Venture of Kingfisher plc. & Koc Holding), Sabri Cimen, Automotive Plant Manager, Ford Otomotiv Sanayii AS, Kos Holding
Global Demographics Development Committee Annual Co-Chairs from left to right:   Luke Aitken, Senior Manager, Policy, NSW Business Chamber and  Eric Hiraga, Chief of Staff, Executive Vice President, Denver International Airport
Global Demographics Development Committee Members
Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee Annual Co-Chairs from left to right: Milan Gauder, Head of Global Products & Solutions, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard; Krishna Navalpakkam, Director - Global Strategy & Development, Schneider Electric, Hong Kong (France)
Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee Members
G-20Y Summit 2015 Opening Ceremony participants

Video:G-20Y Opening Ceremony. Keynote Speech by Franck Riboud
Video:G-20Y Opening Ceremony. Opening Panel
Video:G-20Y Opening Ceremony. Committee Co-Chairs Presentations

Opening Ceremony – Keynote Speech by Franck Riboud

On Thursday 27th of August Evian, France played host to the sixth annual G-20Y summit. Young business leaders and executives from across the G20 countries converged on the town, which looks out spectacularly over Lake Geneva, with the aim of creating a set of recommendations in light of pressing global issues and problems. The passionate figures from the worlds of international business, finance and development gathered in the Salon Leman at the Hotel Royal in Evian to mark the beginning of the Summit.

The Summit serves as an excellent opportunity for these business leaders to provide insight into the social, economic and political responsibilities that different companies are addressing and the methods through which business leaders can influence social and government policy on important issues. Each committee member, after being personally selected by their respective organisation as a potential G-20Y participant, was then part of a rigorous selection process by the G20-Y Association. The participants were individually encouraged to present their personal and independent views on contemporary issues facing global development, using their experience from the business world to help form a set of recommendations for G20 participants, private companies as well as future G-20Y participants in 2016 and beyond.

In the coming three days in Evian, energy markets, food security, the global financial industry, global demographic developments, digital innovation and transformation and creating jobs shall be the topics of discussion for the delegates. In committees, they will meet to discuss these matters at length before producing a final Communiqué, summarising their findings and recommendations. Subsequently, these conclusions shall be disseminated to certain major policy leaders and institutions, identified by the committees to be key figures that the G-20Y Association can liaise with.

The opening ceremony started with the Keynote speaker. This was Mr. Franck Riboud, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Danone. Mr Riboud gave a thought-provoking and extremely relevant speech on the importance of thinking for the future. He stressed that as individuals, the delegates here have a responsibility to plan for the future of the world they live in, as well as the businesses in which they have authority. The G-20Y Summit, Mr Riboud stated, is a fantastic opportunity for these young business leaders to leave the often restricted world of their respective companies and provide detailed recommendations for the benefit of the world we inhabit. As the previous CEO of Danone, Mr Riboud explained that there were always problems every day, especially amongst the supply chain. However when faced with problems such as this, it cannot be dismissed as a problem that is the fault of the suppliers, it relates to a lack of foresight on behalf of the management team. Mr Riboud added that this aforementioned foresight is crucial to the long-term success of any company.

Mr Riboud also spoke of his dual strategy between the social and financial responsibilities that he has at Danone. Despite it being initially unpopular with shareholders, by improving the social aspect of Danone with the financial results already achieved, Mr Riboud was able to satisfy the demands of his shareholders. Citing the relative poverty in Bangladesh as an example, Mr Riboud explained the responsibility he feels to better the situation in these developing countries regardless of the lack of a profit motivation. An example he used was the creation of biodegradable cartons that Danone use in Bangladesh, showing the importance of investing in operational solutions. To finish, driving change and responding to new technologies was Mr Riboud’s final message, stating that financial motivation cannot be the only factor behind changing the world we live in.

Following his impressive speech, the floor was opened to questions. Asked about the future challenges that he thinks businesses will face, Mr Riboud suggested that in Europe especially, there is too much short-term thinking whilst businesses in China prepare fifty to one hundred years in advance. Furthermore, Mr Riboud responded to a question regarding the difficulty in convincing shareholders to accept a long term social and economic plan. He stressed that convincing shareholders is the wrong way to approach the matter, rather, by explaining the long term strategic plan and the responsibilities as a company to invest for the future, longer term prosperity can be achieved in harmony with shareholders.

Afterwards, the Opening Ceremony proceeded to the Opening Panel moderated by Prof. Dr. Holger Erchinger, G-20Y Association Advisory Board Co-Chair.

Dr. Patrik Kolar- Food Security Committee Speaker.

Mr Kolar explained how food security existed when all people worldwide at all times have access to food and can follow a healthy diet. However he accepted that this challenge is extremely difficult in today’s world. Amongst the reasons he cited for this, the urbanisation of the world’s population and climate change were two of the most important due to the strain they put on national and global food resources. According to Mr. Kolar, in order to feed the world in 2050 (which is forecast to have a population of 9 billion people), we will need to increase food production by 70%- a substantial figure. Food wastage is also high on the agenda for the Food Security Committee as each year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted whilst half of the planet remains malnourished. However, Mr Kolar spoke of how 2015 is an extremely important year for the food industry as exhibitions are taking place globally in cities such as Milan. Finally, he expressed that we need to introduce a modern consumer and science based technological network with the aim of producing a system that creates more with less inputs.

Dr. Dirk Lubig- Global Financial Industry – Banking Subcommittee

Dr Lubig began his presentation by declaring that he is one hundred percent convinced that regulation is important for a robust global financial system, citing the 2008 worldwide debt crisis as one of the most catastrophic ever. Dr Lubig expressed how critical it was that the G20 met in Washington to restructure the global financial system to prevent another crisis by increasing higher capital and liquidity ratios. However, he went further to explain that the financial industry is becoming overly regulated- defeating the original objective of higher regulation because of increasing uncertainty. The increased regulation also comes at a cost for the customer as the banks pass on these costs to them, forcing customers to delve into the Shadow Banking sector. This fragmentation of the market leads to higher liquidity and transaction costs, increasing market volatility as well as high financial instability. Finally, Dr Lubig added that it is time we step back and reflect on the way forward for the banking industry as regulation is designed to protect the taxpayer and enable economic growth. Instead of adding further regulation, it is imperative that we now ensure that the existing regulatory measures are efficiently implemented.

Mark Purdy- Global Demographic Developments Committee Speaker

Mr Purdy started by explaining how the world currently has one billion more people than it did twelve years ago and that by 2030, our population will reach nine billion. A problem associated with the increasing global population is of course the silver economy deriving from an ageing global population. The impact an ageing population will have on society is substantial, especially with the added healthcare strain. Mr Purdy added that once set in motion, such a process could not be stopped. However, the way we view this trend is often inaccurate. Citing the famous economist Thomas Malthus, Mr Purdy expressed his desire that we change our conception of an ageing workforce; that it is not necessarily less productive, less innovative and a strain on society. Technology, for example, can be an extremely valuable resource for combatting this development. He finished by saying that we should not just accept this destiny, we should challenge it.

Linda Kromjong- Creating Jobs committee

Speaking from her substantial experience at the International Organisation of Employers (containing 155 employers federations in 145 different countries), Mrs Kromjong expressed the importance of business being the driving force behind the creation of jobs. Without job creation, growth, social and political cohesion are all in question. The way we react to global trends and technological advances is crucial in ensuring jobs are available for everyone. For example, our global response to climate change will inevitably create jobs whilst many will also have to be sacrificed from different industries. Whilst youth unemployment was high on the Creating Jobs committee agenda, the need for increasing participation of women in the jobs market, adequate migration policies, cross-country recognition of skills and effective education and skills policies are also on the agenda.

Jonas Kjellstrand- Digital Innovation and Transformation Committee

Mr Kjellstrand commenced by asking the audience to imagine they were in 1910 and think of a world without electricity. Technology has advanced immeasurably in just over a century yet people in 1910 would have been extremely sceptical about the potential technological advancements over the next hundred years. Mr Kjellstrand expressed his views that connectivity has become the driver of the technology age and that the faster we can come to terms with it, and move forward, the better off society will be. As we are caught in a hybrid generation of people who have not lived solely in the digital world, we must accept that digitalisation is unstoppable as it is self-fuelling. However our privacy will become an increasing concern for governments and for society according to Mr Kjellstrand. If the regulatory bodies or governments cannot provide privacy for the individual, society will inevitably lose trust of the system as it is upon those bodies to guarantee privacy, not the technological industry.

Dr. Christoph Frei- Energy Markets Committee

Emerging economies are expected to account for more than 90% of the growth in energy demand up to 2035, therefore well-functioning energy markets and a reliable supply are essential to every household and business according to Dr Frei. In addition, half of all global capex is going into global energy. He also proceeded to explain how high energy price volatility is becoming normal in today’s society, the uncertainty that we are faced with is of grave concern and more must be done to establish an equilibrium between energy equity, sustainability and security. The need for renewable energy is also crucial and is why it is included on the Energy Markets Committee agenda.

The Opening Panel were then each asked questions relating to their committee topic and agenda. Dr Kolar spoke of the importance worldwide of producing more meat proteins that are environmentally friendly in their production. Dr Lubig also expressed his desire to have a uniform regulatory approach, adhering to all agreed-upon cornerstones and institutionalising one regulator in the Financial Security Board- not the three we have at the moment. Dr Kjellstrand spoke of our responsibility when scrutinising children’s exposure to new technology, stating that is we who are responsible as we engineered the modern technology of today. Every generation will regard the younger generation as doing something wrong yet it is impossible to stop or control- should we try and counter technological improvements and updates, the growth of the technology itself will figure out a way around these measures.

After a coffee break, the Opening Ceremony continued onto the introduction of each committee’s co-chairs and members. The Energy Markets committee, Food Security Committee, Global Financial Industry (Banking and Insurance subcommittees), Global Demographic Developments Committee, Creating Jobs Committee and Digitial Innovation and Transformation Committee were all introduced onto the stage. After a short individual presentation, the Committee Co-Chairs provided a short introduction to their committee’s agenda. This was a continuation of the Opening Panellists presentations, re-iterating their ideas amongst their agendas.

Later that evening, committee guests enjoyed the G-20Y Summit Classical Concert and Opening Gala Dinner. The G-20Y Summit 2015 continues until the Closing Gala Dinner at Ripaille Castle on August 29th 2015. The Final Communiqué of the G-20Y Summit 2015 shall be published earlier that day and disseminated across the world to important governing bodies and organisations such as the IMF, UN, OECD and the World Bank later on.

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