The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), the BRICS Policy Centre (BPC), based in Brazil and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), invite you to the second in a series of webinars focusing on the impact of COVID-19. The first focused on the socio-economic impact on Africa and Latin America. This second webinar examines regional and international cooperation in the face of the pandemic, as well as the impact on the international system.
Africa was quick off the mark in terms of coordinating a response, considering both the health and the finance dimension. In Latin America different coordination and cooperation initiatives were carried out by MERCOSUR, CELAC and PAHO without achieving any significant impact. It is also apparent that the virus has raised a number of issues regarding the current international governance framework and the leading countries within that framework.
This panel will focus on the regional and international responses (focusing on Latin American and African regional coordination), as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact on the international system of governance. The global health diplomacy of China, since coming out of lockdown, has been particularly interesting to follow contrasting as it does with the inward focus of the US. What are the trends that this highlights in terms of global cooperation and how might it change post-COVID-19?
Moderator: Dr Cobus van Staden, SAIIA
Panellists:
• Federico Bonaglia, OECD Development Centre
• Ronak Gopaldas, Signal Risk & Gordon Institute of Business Science
• Stan Nkwain, Director for UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa
• Professor Paulo Esteves, BRICS Policy Centre
A question-and-answer session will follow the panellists’ presentations.