Day one of the Reuters NEXT global leadership summit kicked off Wednesday in New York, convening over 300 leaders from business, government, NGOs, civil society, media, culture and academia to address today’s critical challenges.
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni opened the event with a fireside chat with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Other notable speakers during Wednesday’s sessions included Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy; Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan; Unilever Chief Executive Officer, Beauty & Wellbeing, Cara Sabin; Shopify President Harley Finkelstein; Apple Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson; Norges Bank Investment Management Chief Executive Officer Nicolai Tangen; Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah; and EU AI Act Co-Rapporteur Brando Benifei.
View the news highlights from today’s session below:
UN chief says Gaza deaths show something ‘wrong’ with Israel tactics
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations against Hamas Palestinian militants.
UN chief says it will be difficult to revive Black Sea grain deal
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters NEXT on Wednesday that it will be difficult to revive a landmark deal that allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which Russia quit in July over complaints about its own exports. “It will be difficult. We are going on with our efforts. But it will be difficult,” Guterres said.
Ukraine can still deliver battlefield results this year, Zelenskiy says
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday Ukraine would still try to deliver battlefield results by the end of the year and that he remained sure Kyiv would eventually have success in the war despite difficulties at the front. Acknowledging the slow progress of Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the occupied south in an interview by video link at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York, he also touted a Ukrainian battlefield plan for 2024 that he said he could not disclose.
Zelenskiy hopes for “planet of dogs” to solve world’s crises
Apart from a detailed peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has a less conventional idea for ending geopolitical crises like these: let dogs run the world. In the rare downtime he gets as a wartime leader, Zelenskiy, speaking to Reuters by video link on Wednesday, suggested man’s best friend might fare better when it comes to getting along on the global stage.
BofA CEO Moynihan says US economy headed for soft landing
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday he expects a soft landing in which the U.S. economy avoids a recession even as consumer spending and commercial borrowing slow. “Our research team is the best in the business and they have moved to the soft landing category. They have a slowdown in the economy in the middle of next year,” Moynihan said in a wide-ranging interview at the Reuters NEXT conference.
EU AI Act to serve as blueprint for global rules, Benifei says
European Union lawmaker Brando Benifei, one of the architects of the bloc’s artificial intelligence rules, said on Wednesday that he expects the EU AI Act will serve as a “blueprint” that countries around the globe could use for their legislation.
UK Treasury’s Griffith says recession is ‘not where the UK is’ now
Britain is not facing a recession at the moment, but more work is needed for its economy to grow at a significantly higher rate and combat inflation, UK Treasury Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith said in New York on Wednesday. Griffith told the Reuters NEXT conference that Britain’s biggest focus was to continue driving down inflation and that clearly involved choices.
Apple is not passing on costs of climate goals to consumers, exec says
Apple does not charge more to account for its carbon reduction efforts on its widely-used consumer technology products, its top executive for sustainability said on Wednesday at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. “We don’t factor in a premium to take care of the work that we’re doing,” Apple Vice President Lisa Jackson said in an interview with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni.
Investment bankers see dealmaking lull storing pent-up demand
Some of the world’s top investment bankers said on Wednesday that a drop in corporate dealmaking in 2023 sets the stage for a pick-up in activity once uncertainty around the global economy, geopolitical conflicts and regulatory hurdles subsides.
Reuters NEXT continues Thursday, November 9, with the global broadcast resuming from 8AM EST / 1PM GMT. On day two, you can expect to hear from United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona; Central Bank of Brazil President Roberto de Oliveira Campos Neto; Santander Chief Executive Officer Ana Botin; International Rescue Committee President David Miliband; Save the Children U.S. President & CEO Janti Soeripto; Lazard Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag; Lanvin Chief Executive Officer Joann Cheng; France Economy & Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire; and Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Tune into day two of Reuters NEXT and follow news from the forum on Reuters.com.
Media contact:
Heather Carpenter
heather.carpenter @ tr.com