7 guiding principles for global cooperation

As we're edging closer to overcoming the pandemic and going back to somewhat of a normal life, companies and governments face competition for vaccines, travel restrictions and supply chain disruptions.

To address these challenges, the world should focus on cooperation as a means to leave the crisis in a better position than the one in which we entered it. Multistakeholder initiatives such as COVAX and CommonPass, as well as regional collaboration schemes, are fostering innovation and coordinated approaches to global threats.

Greater resilience can only occur if leaders rebuild or reimagine instruments for greater collaboration. Cooperation has proven effective in the past, but static roadmaps are neither effective in our dynamic reality nor adapted to long-term interconnected threats such as environmental degradation.

This is why the World Economic Forum's Principles for Strengthening Global Cooperation, released, today provides a compass of seven principles to improve shared futures. They were developed by a group of 32 leaders who met throughout 2020, with leaders from Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, Goldman Sachs and Google co-chairing the Global Action Group.

Here are the seven guiding principles, which are meant to help guide leaders towards greater global cooperation.

1. Strengthen global cooperation

Recovery measures must include steps that advance long-term security and humanitarian objectives in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 16 in order to protect fragile communities and conflict zones which were the hardest hit by the current crises.

2. Advance peace and security

Recovery measures must include steps that advance long-term security and humanitarian objectives in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 16 by accelerating peace efforts, capital investments, as well as steps that promote good governance, strong institutions and social cohesion.

3. Re-globalize equitably

For all people, regardless of race, gender or financial standing, to benefit from globalization, we need a new global social contract that calls to close digital divides, supports education and life-long skills learning, reduces inequity and addresses debt burdens globally.

4. Promote gender equality

As part of their recovery, economies should create measures to prevent gender-based violence and discrimination, improve women’s financial and professional advancement, and facilitate respect of women’s human rights.

5. Rebuild sustainably

The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 shouldn’t be used as an excuse to exclude environmental measures from policies. Instead, measures should advance carbon-neutral products and practices and be undertaken in a way that is consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

6. Deepen public-private partnerships

Governments and businesses will need to keep on financing environments that are favourable for innovation and that will direct resources towards education, infrastructure, technology and humanitarian priorities.

7. Increase global resilience

Greater information sharing and better global trading systems that will restart trade are needed to improve resilience.