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STORY: WTO / WORLD ECONOMY
TRT: 02:07
SOURCE: WTO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 SEPTEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
26 SEPTEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, WTO headquarters entrance
2. Wide shot Public Forum banner
3. Various shots, guests arriving
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General, World Trade Organization:
"People are hurting and that’s the reason many, many, many feel disconnected from economic progress. This is clearly the case in a number of developed countries. And in developing countries, the persistent challenges of poverty and development remain as pressing as they ever were."
5. Pan right, people in attendance
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Krugman, Professor, City University of New York Graduate Center:
"We did make some mistakes. We did understate the amount of pain that would be caused, but that doesn´t mean that we should be turning our backs on the global economy now."
6. Close up, people in attendance
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Krugman, Professor, City University of New York Graduate Center:
"We all have to live in the same world. And ultimately if we were to go back to a fragmented, protectionist world which would be devastating for smaller countries, that has spill over effects, that leads to political instability, it leads to a lot of bad things that will in the end come back to haunt even the countries that can weather that direct economic impact better."
8. Pan right, meeting hall
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF):
"I’m afraid that the speed of transformation at this accelerated pace is going to outpace the speed and ability of adjusting, particularly for those who have not prepared for it."
10. Med shot, people in attendance
11. Wide shot, stage
World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Roberto Azevêdo said “many, many, many feel disconnected from economic progress” in developed countries while persistent challenges of poverty and development in developing countries “remain as pressing as they ever were."
Speaking today (26 Sep) at this year’s WTO Public Forum, Azevêdo said world had underestimated people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, adding that leaders must not ignore this and need to adjust and react to people’s concerns.
The opening session of the Public Forum 2017 brought together a range of experts, among them Christine Lagarde and Paul Krugman, who debated how trade is interacting with other major forces of economic change, how trade can help to respond to the major challenges facing world economies, and how the trading system can be improved to deliver greater benefits to people around the world. The Forum is considered the WTO’s flagship outreach event, with more than 2,000 participants registering for this year’s gathering.
New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said textbook economics never claimed growing exposure to trade would be painless, but what economists like himself may have missed is the extent to which the sharp growth in global trade has also produced sharper-than-expected income redistribution effects and transitional costs. Krugman said mistakes have been made but, “that doesn´t mean that we should be turning our backs on the global economy now." He stressed that if the world went back to a fragmented, protectionist world, it would be devastating for smaller countries, and could lead to political instability, and “a lot of bad things that will in the end come back to haunt even the countries that can weather that direct economic impact better."
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the transformation of world economies, from international trade to transportation, to artificial intelligence, data mining, among other things, is happening very fast. She expressed fear that the speed of transformation at this accelerated pace is going to “outpace the speed and ability of adjusting, particularly for those who have not prepared for it."
