Bill Clinton gathers global leaders to address world problems

At the newly-opened Clinton Global Initiative, among other things former President Bill Clinton challenged Wal-Mart to open a store in Libya and help create jobs in the world’s most troubled areas.

The annual forum brings together leaders in politics, business and philanthropy for three days of brainstorming about the most pressing global problems. Newly elected Libyan President Mohamed Magariafis is listed among about 1,000 forum participants, as is Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, along with 50 other current or former heads of state.

The theme of the 2012 meeting is “Designing for Impact.” Its stated purpose is to consider how the Clinton Global Initiative community “can utilize our abundance of global capacity to invent better tools, build more effective interventions, and work creatively and collaboratively to design a future worth pursuing.”

The U.N. secretary-general said the “top priority” is sustainable development – especially for basic needs such as energy, food and water in poor parts of the world. “I’m going to sound an alarm to all the leaders,” he said. “We are living in an era of insecurity, injustice, inequality and intolerance, and what should we do?”

Tags: Clinton Global Initiative, Global Initiative

This entry was posted in International Cooperation, Philanthropy by Grant Montgomery.