FP Event: Ukraine – A Test of the Multilateral System

September 21, 2022 | New York, NY

How can multilateral institutions more effectively respond to complex global crises?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves through global markets, putting additional pressure on already-strained supply chains, with cascading impacts on energy, food, and economic security around the world. With countries still struggling to emerge from the global pandemic, the conflict has exacerbated inflationary trends and contributed to commodity price spikes affecting developed and developing countries—but carrying devastating and acute effects for the most vulnerable, most of whom reside in the Global South.

Not only have these complex and compounding impacts from conflict, Covid, and climate required an urgent and coordinated global response, they have also revealed fractures in the international community’s ability to respond to the crises and provide the level of support needed to safeguard economic and human security around the world. Global dynamics continue to test the capability and willingness of the multilateral institutions to meet the challenge, with the current circumstances presenting an opportunity for a reset.

Amid ongoing geopolitical and market instability, and on the occasion of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Policy, in partnership with the Open Society Foundations, brought together leading policymakers, development practitioners, and investors for a frank discussion on the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and how the multilateral institutions can identify targeted strategies to quell the crisis and more effectively support the world’s most vulnerable.

Join the conversation online using #RenewUN.

Revitalizing Multilateralism in the Face of Compounding Global Crises: Multilateral action is critical to address global food, fuel, and finance challenges exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Read the issue brief by FP Analytics before the conversation on Sept. 21.

In partnership with

READ FP ANALYTICS' ISSUE BRIEF

Speakers

Rebeca Grynspan

Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Rebeca Grynspan, economist and Ex-Vice President of Costa Rica, was named Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in September 2021....

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Dr. Arif Husain

Chief Economist and Director of Research, Assessments & Monitoring Division, United Nations World Food Programme

Dr. Arif Husain is Chief Economist and Director of Research, Assessments & Monitoring Division at
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, Italy. Arif...

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Susana Malcorra

President and cofounder of GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion

Ms. Susana Malcorra is President and one of the cofounders of GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion. She was the Dean of IE School of Global & Public Affairs in Spain. Ms. M...

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Mark Malloch-Brown

President, Open Society Foundations

Mark Malloch-Brown is president of the Open Society Foundations, the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human...

Mark Malloch-Brown is president of the Open Society Foundations, the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. He has worked to advance human rights, justice, and development for more than four decades in a variety of roles: with the United Nations, the World Bank, and as a British government minister, as well as with a range of civil society groups and business. At the United Nations, Malloch-Brown spearheaded the global promotion of the UN Millennium Development Goals as head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 1999 to 2005, under the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. At the UNDP, and previously as head of external affairs at the World Bank, Malloch-Brown led reform efforts that were widely seen as increasing the impact of both organizations. He later served as Kofi Annan’s chief of staff, and then as UN Deputy Secretary General, before joining the British government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as minister responsible for Africa and Asia from 2007 to 2009. Malloch-Brown rejoined Open Society’s Global Board in 2009, reflecting a close friendship with George Soros that developed in the early 1990s when he was working as a political consultant in Latin America and later over relief efforts in Bosnia. In 1995, Soros backed Malloch-Brown and others’ idea of launching the International Crisis Group, an NGO focused on preventing and averting violent conflict, in response to the horrors seen in Rwanda, Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia. More recently, he chaired Best for Britain, a group that makes the case for Britain’s engagement with the European Union, and has among others led the boards of the Royal Africa Society, the UN Foundation, and the Business Commission for Sustainable Development. Malloch-Brown was knighted for his contribution to international affairs and is currently on leave from the British House of Lords. Malloch-Brown is a Distinguished Practitioner at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, an adjunct fellow at Chatham House’s Queen Elizabeth Program, and has been a visiting distinguished fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

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Satya S. Tripathi

Secretary-General, Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet

Satya S. Tripathi is Secretary-General of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet. A development economist, lawyer and changemaker with over 40 years of varied exper...

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