Making it Matter: Towards Meaningful Multilateralism

Launch of the Körber Multilateralism Lab Report

As part of the MSC’s Road to Munich campaign, the GIGA and Körber-Stiftung launch the report of their joint Körber Multilateralism Lab. With a renowned international panel, we will discuss meaningful reform of the multilateral order while embracing the momentum of reinvigorated transatlantic relations.

Welcome: Ambassador Boris Ruge (Vice-Chairman MSC) Nora Müller (Körber-Stiftung)

Presentation of Körber Multilateralism Lab Report: Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar (President of the GIGA) Christin Knüpfer (Körber-Stiftung)

Panel discussion "Making it Matter: Towards Meaningful Multilateralism":

• Dr. Benedetta Berti, Head, Policy Planning, Office of the Secretary General, NATO.

• Reinhard Bütikofer, MEP, Foreign Policy Coordinator, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament.

• Dr. Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

• Dr. Thomas Wright, Director, Center on the United States and Europe; Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Project on International Order and Strategy, The Brookings Institution. Moderated by: Nora Müller, Executive Director International Affairs, Körber-Stiftung.

In the context of the theme “Beyond Westlessness: Renewing Transatlantic Cooperation, Meeting Global Challenges”, the launch of our report “Making it Matter: Thought Experiments for Meaningful Multilateralism” will take place in partnership with the Munich Security Conference. It will offer an exclusive opportunity to share the results and policy recommendations as part of the Road to Munich, a campaign initiated by the Munich Security Conference to promote the discussion on key challenges for transatlantic relations in the run-up to an in-person event in Munich later this year. The launch invites key stakeholders of international cooperation: policy makers, academics, think-tankers, and other experts focusing on multilateral cooperation in matters pertaining to foreign and security policy, but also broader issues of global governance.

Multilateralism has not been in the best of health for some years now. The COVID-19 pandemic has powerfully driven home the point on both the necessity of multilateral cooperation, and limitations of current practices and institutions. To develop shared solutions that facilitate the rescue of multilateral arrangements in some areas, a fundamental reboot in others, and to unite these approaches into a coherent plan for action, Körber-Stiftung and GIGA initiated the Körber Multilateralism Lab.

In three online meetings during 2020 – the concluding session has taken place in the wake of the US election in November – the Lab brought together a select group of policy experts, public officials, and academics in a confidential setting. With the help of forward-looking debate and collaborative tools, participants explored new ideas beyond thought barriers and tested impulses to improve international cooperation and the effectiveness of the multilateral system.

The Körber Multilateralism Lab Report offers innovative perspectives on a potential rescue and reboot of the multilateral system, and specific recommendations with reference to the governance of global health, trade, security, and climate change. It is a call to improve representation of the Global South – a key imperative for multilateralism to work in a meaningful way – and to seek like-minded allies transcending the North-South divides. The report gives new insights into how winning narratives might be developed, necessary to build and reinforce support for multilateralism. Underpinning both the general and the specific recommendations are questions of values, interests, and purpose. Embracing the momentum of reinvigorated transatlantic relations, we developed a blueprint for a meaningful reform of the multilateral order to better deal with current and future challenges.

Organisers: Christin Knüpfer Programme Director International Affairs Körber-Stiftung E-Mail: [email protected]

Julia Kramer Chief Officer to the President German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) E-Mail: [email protected]