WION Global Summit 2022: Highlights & top quotes

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at the WION Global Summit said: "Maybe war would mean the lack of peace, but peace will not indicate the lack of war."

"Without war, capitalism would be incapable of surviving," the former Iran president remarked.

Ahmadinejad made a direct reference to the UNSC's unbalanced execution and stated that "With veto power at the UN Security Council, the world's main arms producers and exporters have assumed responsibility for ensuring global security."

"War inflicts more wounds on mankind, aggravates their wounds, and makes the problems of society more complicated and severe," he added.
 

"We are on the brink of the next world war," Vladzimir Astapenka, former Belarus minister said.

Astapenka remarked that at first Belarus President Lukashenko said he didn't believe in viruses, quarantine measures and that the best way to deal with them was salmon and vodka.

"Unfortunately, Belarus' leadership actively participated in this aggression (Russia-Ukraine conflict) offering my country's land for airstrikes, missile attacks, and army movements," he stated.

"Japan and Taiwan are very close. I hope China chooses peace," Yasuhide Nakayama, former Japanese state minister of defence said.

The Japanese ex-minister who was taking part as a dialogue partner in the first session of the summit on "Waving the white flag on armed conflicts" said that "After World War-II ended with Japanese surrender, the USSR invaded and occupied Japanese northern territory island. It is still under their control. They are still continuing military activity near our country."  

"The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We will never forget that they bombed us but President Obama came to my country and prayed for the victims of the war and we had bombed Pearl Harbour too," the former minister added.

Pat Breen, former Irish minister for trade and business speaking at the WION Global Summit said: "It is not the end of Globalisation."

"Donald Trump said he wanted to 'Make America Great Again'. I think it is impossible in today's modern world," said Breen.

"There may be short-term winners in trade wars, but in the end, it's the people who you're trying to protect who will lose the most," Ireland's ex-minister added.

Ukraine's deputy minister of foreign affairs Dmytro Senik speaking at the WION Global Summit said: "The Ukrainians suffered the horror of Russian occupation. The unprovoked Russian aggression took lives of dozens of thousands of civilians."

"The unprovoked attack from Russia on Ukraine will certainly have grave consequences for the entire international system. For the first time, since the end of World War II, we witnessed brutalities committed by Russia – the country that sits as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and was expected to be a peace guarantor, not a wrecker of the global architecture,” he said.

"According to the IMF, the global economic recovery will slow down significantly due to the Russia invasion of Ukraine," the minister added.

"Ukrainian grain, corn and sunflower oil are traditional supplies to Europe, North Africa and Middle East as well as Asia."

"Looting of Ukrainian grain by Russian soldiers, blockade of shipments from Ukrainian routes as well as attacking the global shipping routes endangers global food security,” Senik explained.
 

"There is a seductive attraction to the notion that we could be self-sufficient so that we don't depend on others, Simon Lacey, former vice president, Huawei said at the WION Global Summit.

"There is just too much money to be made by intergrating markets," he opined. Lacey said that there was a realignment going on when it comes to globalisation during the third session of the summit titled 'Trade wars: No long-term winners'.

"Trade wars are not sustainable. If you're taking about beneficiaries of trade war, the supply and demand will actually decide which country is the best producer of a certain commodity," Waseqa Ayesha Khan, Bangladesh's Parliament member said at the WION Global summit.

"Bangladesh has always been competitive in the RMG  (ready-made garment) sector. So the trade war between US and China may benefit somewhat, but will not make a sea change in Bangladesh's economy," Waseqa Ayesha Khan added.

"Even before the winds of war began, protectionism and tariff regimes were prevalent, Waseqa Ayesha Khan said.

"With digital transformation, countries are adopting cryptocurrencies. You see that in India where they are going to tax crypto, Richie Santosdiaz, senior strategic advisor, The Corporate Group, said during a discussion at WION's Global Summit in Dubai.

Addressing WION’s 'Global Summit: Mission Peace', Indian Ambassador to UAE, Sunjay Sudhir said the threats to peace are rising in the world through bio-weapons, internet and state-sponsored terrorism.

"In recent years, Qatar, Turkey, Iran and other nations have also made peace overtures. It was unimaginable earlier," the Indian ambassador to UAE added.

"India which is the land of Mahatma Gandhi has also been an advocate of peace. We always want to give peace a chance and promote it through diplomacy and negotiations," the Indian ambassador  added.  

"Conflicts always come at a high price. Russia-Ukraine conflict has had an adverse impact on several countries, which are not even a part of it. It has led to the issue of food security and breakdown in supply chains," he said, adding,"

"Several economies have also been impacted adversely. So, it is time to look for sustainable peace, Sunjay Sudhir added.

"We are mindful of the danger of bioweapons," Japanese ex-envoy Mitsuaki Kojima said at the WION Global Summit on Monday in Dubai.

Kojima warned that bioweapons have been destroyed in many countries but after the destruction of bioweapons but there is a need for bioresearch for security purposes.

He stated that it is critical to strengthen international judicial systems. 

"We have institutions to control bioweapons in every way, but there are some shortfalls in the convention," Japan's ex-envoy informed.

"Priorities are very different. Our focus was largely to understand what cyber security is about and what are the things to look out for," Supa Mandiwanzira, former minister of ICT & cyber security, Zimbabwe, said at the WION Global summit.

"In the world of the internet somebody sitting in London can announce the election results, you can't control it," Mandiwanzira added.

"For as long we weaponise the internet, the fear is we will go back to an age where nobody cares. You cannot allow a few countries to invest and run the technology," Mandiwanzira asserted.

"Cyber security was always a priority for our government," Barakat Alkindi, former director of digital transformation, Abu Dhabi Police said at the WION Global Summit.

Alkindi said: "It is always a changing scenario. We are always trying to catch up with bad guys from the same tools that they're using."

"Regular wars have been there for thousands of years. The cyber war is a new war, there are no laws, no guidelines, all the countries need to work together to understand and to make the tech more peaceful as we hoped and to come out with an agreement," he said.