CGET Press Conference on the release of the Interim Report on the Global Response to the Pandemic Zoom call, March 11, 2021 Speakers: Rob Johnson, Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Spence, Jayati Ghosh, and Rohinton Medhora Registered press attendees: • David Blair - Center for China and Globalization/ChinaDaily • Philip Blenkinsop – Reuters • Nancy Finn Communication Resources • Lynn Fries – GPE newsdocs • Yang Ge – FT • Peter Goodman - The New York Times • Xin Guan - CGTN • Kathleen Hays - Bloomberg TV/Radio • RUI LIANG – CGTN • Mike Ludwig – Truthout • Paolo Mastrolilli - La Stampa • Michael Molinski - Investor's Business Daily • Patricia Sabga - Al Jazeera Digital • Jane Sarasohn-Kahn THINK-Health and Health Populi blog • Heather Scoffield - Toronto Star • Andrea Shalal – Reuters • Liwei Wang – Caixin • Min Xue – Caijing • Wenjun ZHENG - NetEase Finance • Irene Zhou – YICAIMedia • 怡然刘第一财经 (YICAI) Attending CGET Commissioners: • Kaushik Basu - Cornell University • Fatima Denton - United Nations University • Jayati Ghosh - UMASS Amherst • Gael Giraud - Georgetown environmental justice program • Rob Johnson – INET • Rohinton Medhora – Centre for International Governance Innovation • Danny Quah – NUS • Michael Spence – NYU • Joe Stiglitz - Columbia University • Yongding Yu - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CGET March 11 2021 Press Conference (Completed 03/11/21) Page 1 of 14 Transcript by Rev.com Rob Johnson: Well, good evening, Asia. Good afternoon, Europe and good morning North America. I feel very fortunate that INET has been able to work with and build on the insights of 21 people from around the world who are extraordinary and who started, really at the time of the China Development Forum in 2015, to understand that many things, many challenges that were approaching us, particularly in that context, US China relations, would require new thinking and different type of thinking, particularly as it pertains to the relationship between governance and the market economy. In this context, the Nobel Laureates, Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, agreed to be the co-chairs. Mike had headed up the growth commission that was embedded at the World Bank, and Joe Stiglitz had headed up a UN commission which I was fortunate to serve on. And both of them understood the process and how they see responsibility for impact that that would entail. We have focused in the meeting since the inception in mid 2015 on many different things that I will call the disruptors of the status quo in the world. Climate, global warming issues, technology, the future of work and the future of information systems, the, how do I say? More mature but substantial role of global financial markets and financialization, the induced pressures that society must deal with in the realm of migration, and all of this flows into the questions of governance in a global economy where the scope of the market is much broader than that of the nation state. We have many of our commissioners, have been involved throughout this process, but today, we have a subset here to speak. First off, Joe Stiglitz, who is the chairman of the subcommittee on globalization and governance. He will frame things, what this interim report is focused on. And then after that, Jayati Ghosh, who is a professor now at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, but for a long time, at the Nehru University in New Delhi. And Jayati will focus on intellectual property rights, vaccination, both production and equitable dissemination. Following that, Rohinton Medhora, who is our partner with INET through the Center for International Governance Innovation. As Sharmini mentioned, Jim Balsillie was one of our co-founders going right back to our first conference in 2010, and Rohinton. We'll talk about a number of issues, but particularly on the question of SDR allocation. Then we'll come back to Joe Stiglitz, who will focus on the question of debt, sovereign debt, restructuring in light of a pandemic where the debtor countries are not responsible for causing this calamitous experience that we're all undergoing at present. And then finally, Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate and the head of our subcommittee on technology and the future of work, will summarize his thinking in light of what the others have presented. And then we'll turn it on to questions, and Sharmini mentioned to you all, it would be nice if you would put your questions in the chat box and then I will moderate and can call on you. But I'd like to draw on that list as the basis for understanding who would like to ask a question. Let me turn it now over to, in terms of just process, like I mentioned, Joe, overview, Jayati, vaccines, Rohinton, SDRs, Joe on the debt restructuring, Mike for a summary, then the Q and A, and I will try to have you all back heading onto the next adventure of the day by nine o'clock this morning. I'd also like to emphasize that in the realm of debt, George Soros has been working himself very actively on the question of perpetual debt, most recently in relation to an article about French national issuance of perpetual debt. And I know that the global commission will pick up, though it's not a feature in this short-term paper, I know it will be an element of the challenge that we will address in forthcoming communications and reports of the committee. Candidate Joe Stiglitz, please carry on from here. Joseph Stiglitz: CGET March 11 2021 Press Conference (Completed 03/11/21) Page 2 of 14 Transcript by Rev.com Okay. Well, thank you all for coming. The background for this is obvious. We've been in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic and it's had unprecedented economic consequences. And we're going to be talking today both about the health side, but also equally importantly, the economic side. For those in the developed world, we've been immersed in this moment where discussion of when we will get our vaccines, when will the population be vaccinated? But it's a totally different experience, as Jayati will point out, in the developing world. Many of them are not scheduled to get the vaccines for years to come unless we change what is going on. And a central idea here is particularly with the threat risks of mutations, the world is not going to be safe from the pandemic itself until the pandemic is controlled everywhere in the world. So in that sense, it's even in our own self-interest that there be a rapid dissemination of the vaccines and the other medicines, the masks, the tests, that help control the pandemic. So that's one part of our report. As Rob pointed out, we are engaged in a long-term assessment of the global economic transformation, but the pandemic interrupted our long-term work and we thought it was important to get a report out now, because it's really imperative that we respond effectively to the pandemic. But the economic aftermath of the pandemic is almost an issue being discussed everywhere. In the United States, we're celebrating the fact that we at last have had a very strong rescue package of some $1.9 trillion, an amount, in combination with what was passed in the spring and December, of almost 24% or more of GDP. If you look at the numbers of the kinds of support that the poor countries have been able to provide to recover their economies, it's minuscule. Among the least developed countries, it turns out to be about $11 per capita, and in the middle income countries, somewhat greater but still a fraction of the amounts in the advanced countries. And again, we won't have a strong global recovery unless we have a recovery everywhere in the world, so it a matter of self-interest and it's a matter of compassion. The assessment of the risk by the Biden administration is one that we agree with. The risk of doing too little is far greater than that of doing too much, and we have instruments for responding if there is too much. So we're very supportive of what the Biden administration has done, of this large injection of funds. But it wouldn't be enough for a global recovery, and it certainly won't be enough to save the developing countries in emerging markets from large numbers of more people going into poverty, and even worse outcomes that will wipe out years and years of success in development. And that's why this report focuses on the developing countries and emerging markets. And so the key issues that we face are, how can we make sure that they have an effective response to the pandemic, to the disease? And that's what Jayati is going to talk about. How we can give more fiscal space to the developing countries in emerging markets so they can have, if not at the kind of response to the United States has, a least a response that has the hope of having them recover growth quickly. And an essential part of that is the issuance of SDRs that Rohinton we'll talk about. And another important part of providing fiscal spaces, dealing with the debt crisis that will be particularly possible in a number of countries, and I'll come back and talk about that. So with those preliminary remarks, Jayati, do you want to pick up? Jayati Ghosh: Thank you very much, Joe, and it's a pleasure to be here. I think Joe has already highlighted that the distribution of vaccines has been one of the most striking examples of inequality that the pandemic has brought out.