Paris Peace Forum | 11-12 Nov. 2024
Paris Peace Forum | 11-12 Nov. 2024
On the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Paris Peace Forum organized an action-packed program of high-level discussions addressing key global issues. These events, held in New York, focused on critical areas such as transition minerals, nutrition, AI governance, digital infrastructures, and agriculture. Through these sessions, the Forum sought to foster collaboration and drive forward solutions to some of the most pressing global challenges of our time.
On September 23, during Climate Week NYC, the Forum’s Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals, including members Kandeh Yumkella and Jason Bordoff, met with Ditte Juul-Joergensen, Co-Chair of the UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals. The discussion, moderated by Pascal Lamy, focused on how the Council’s work can support the principles of the recent UN report on critical minerals.
This session highlighted the need for equitable and sustainable extraction of transition minerals, essential to driving the energy transition while ensuring environmental justice and fairness for local communities.
About the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals
On September 23, as part of the road to the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris in March 2025, the Forum organized a meeting of its independent expert group during UNGA week. The session focused on strategies to improve global nutrition and ensure that food systems are equitable, sustainable, and resilient.
The outcomes of this meeting will feed into the Forum’s preparations for the upcoming Nutrition for Growth Summit, where global leaders will come together to address the urgent need for increased investment and innovative solutions to combat malnutrition and food insecurity worldwide.
About the Forum’s contribution to the N4G Summit in Paris
On September 24, in collaboration with Microsoft, we held an event focusing on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. Participants examined how AI technologies influence both defensive and offensive cyber capabilities and the need for governance frameworks to prevent misuse.
The discussions, part of the lead-up to the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris, aimed to explore how AI can enhance cybersecurity while mitigating its risks. The outcomes will shape the Forum’s contributions to global AI governance and support the Paris Call community in unpacking the interplay between AI safety and cyber peace, bridging cooperation gaps in this area.
About the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace
About the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris
On September 25, in partnership with Brunswick Group, the Forum hosted a session on the security risks facing global digital infrastructure. Leaders from key sectors discussed the vulnerabilities of undersea cables and satellite constellations.
With increasing geopolitical tensions, the session underscored the need for new frameworks to protect these vital infrastructures. The discussions contributed to the Paris Call's efforts to build a risk-based governance approach, ensuring the resilience of global connectivity in the face of growing threats.
About the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace
On September 26, the Paris Peace Forum’s ATLAS initiative convened a session addressing Africa’s agricultural financing gap. Co-hosted by UM6P, OCP Group, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in partnership with the Government of Somalia, the session explored the urgent need for $200 billion in annual financing to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential.
Participants from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors discussed how Africa’s agricultural sector could become a global powerhouse. However, structural issues, including a lack of cohesive global vision and policy misalignment, remain barriers. The ATLAS initiative seeks to build long-term political will and drive investment to bridge this gap.
These events are just a taste of what is in store for the November 11-12 Paris Peace Forum, which will see global leaders meet around the theme “Wanted: A Functioning Global Order“. The Forum will address the urgent need for effective international governance in a world marked by great power rivalries, global instability, North-South distrust and new transnational challenges – including sessions on Ukraine, Gaza, the U.S. election and the world viewed from China, as well as the campaign for a woman Secretary-General of the United Nations (including the main female candidates for the post).
