Adam Plowright and Pierre Donadieu -
It was billed as a “Davos for democracy”. But will the newly launched Paris Peace Forum, the latest addition to international conferencing, have an impact?
Conceived by French leader Emmanuel Macron, the forum is intended to be part of the fightback against nationalism, with its format inspired by the annual business meeting in the Davos ski resort in Switzerland.
The event opened on Sunday, with speeches by Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN chief Antonio Guterres who warned about the dangers of Trump-style populism.
The idea is that the Paris event, which began symbolically on the centenary of the end of World War I, becomes an annual gathering to discuss democracy and international cooperation.
“We have put on leaders’ agenda the fact that every year, we will talk about multilateralism and our collective interests here,” chief organiser Justin Vaisse said.
The remaining days featured round-table discussions on topics from gender inequality to the need for new global environmental accords.
One hundred and twenty projects, most of them run by NGOs, were given space in an exhibition area of the forum.
“You can count on my support,” Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta told the Kumekucha association, which works to prevent violence in rural communities in Africa.
Given the agenda, it’s little wonder US President Donald Trump decided to snub the forum after the memorial service on the Champs-Elysees to mark 100 years since the WWI Armistice on Sunday.
A host of other leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, opted to attend the opening session, but most of them left shortly afterwards.
An absence of nationalist viewpoints among the attendees meant most panel discussions subsequently veered towards consensus — that multilateralism, cooperation and peace were desirable.
But Florent Geel, from the International Federation of Human Rights, argued the forum could develop as an important place for networking among like-minded people.
“It makes sense to meet up, to discuss the challenges for the planet and connect worlds that don’t connect up very easily,” he said.
But he added a peace forum should have allowed more space to discuss the wars underway worldwide, where the main international powers are at loggerheads.
The forum’s ultimate fate might depend on the star-power of its French patron, Macron. — AFP
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