Trialogue 53 Introductory Note

The Commission’s ongoing interest in the management of a globalizing international economy and the associated challenges for emerging and Trilateral countries was evident throughout the meeting. This publication begins with the remarks of the World Bank’s James Wolfensohn and the IMF’s Stanley Fischer, who opened the two parts of the session on “The International Community and the World Economy.” Among emerging economies, the prospects for Brazil and its neighbors after the January collapse of the real were at the center of the session led by André Lara Resende and Domingo Cavallo (Section 8). The challenges for East Asia with the financial crisis of the region easing somewhat were a large part of the context for the remarks of Tommy Koh, Jusuf Wanandi and Yuan Ming (Section 7). One theme in the East Asia session was the importance of continuing reform. As Tommy Koh put it, “My fear is not that East Asia will not recover; my fear is that it will recover too soon. If it recovers too soon, the momentum for reform will fade.” Andrei Kokoshin and Serhiy Holovaty spoke of the reform process in Russia and Ukraine, respectively (Sections 9 and 10). The changing world economy also presents deep challenges to Trilateral countries, addressed in the remarks of John Sweeney, Yotaro Kobayashi and Edmond Alphandéry (Section 3).

The Washington meeting took place just before the collapse of the Kosovo negotiations in France and the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign. The unfolding crisis in Kosovo dominated the discussion with Javier Solana, Secretary-General of NATO, who also spoke of the upcoming NATO Summit and the formal entry into the NATO of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic only a few days before. Kosovo came up most poignantly in the remarks of UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, already struggling with great human insecurity on the ground. Mrs. Ogata, with Rudolf Scharping and John Deutch, opened the session on “Security Challenges in a New Era” (Section 4).

As the host region, the United States (Section 5) and Canada (Section 6) were given special attention in the Washington meeting. Canadian Industry Minister John Manley set out an impressive range of initiatives for “connecting Canadians” to the Internet. Lee Hamilton and Chuck Hagel led the session on “Congress and U.S. International Leadership.” Treasury’s Larry Summers and the State Department’s Thomas Pickering spoke to the meeting. The values which Trilateral countries share relate not only to foreign policy and international interests but also to the successful functioning of our democratic societies. Among the basic societal challenges for the United States are those of its larger central cities. Just after the Washington meeting a number of members participated in a program with this focus in Baltimore, led by Trilateral member and Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke.