The Sixth Bosporus Summit entitled Mission Possible: Less Poverty, More Prosperity met in Istanbul on December 9,10 & 11, 2015. During three days of meetings, political leaders, public servants from national governments and international organizations, business leaders, representatives of civil society organizations as well as scholars from universities have met and discussed how to achieve the twin goals of eradicating poverty and increasing prosperity at the grassroots level. The conference was organized by the International Cooperation Platform (www.uipistanbul.org/)under the auspices of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly ( TIM:www.tim.org.tr/en)
Participants have noted that while some parts of the world has achieved previously unequalled levels of prosperity during the recent years, other parts have been suffering from deprivation as evidenced by the fact that significant parts of humanity continue to live below the poverty line of two dollars per day. A consensus emerged that the disparities of the global distribution of wealth and prosperity and the continuation of poverty constitute a situation that is not only morally indefensible but also a threat to peace and an impediment to achieving economic growth in the future, and therefore should not be allowed to continue.
It was agreed that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations and supported by more than 190 signatory states that aims to eradicate poverty in the world by 2030 constituted a reasonable framework within which countries should work both individually and in cooperation with each other toward the achievement of this goal. Participants noted that in addition to poverty, humans in many parts of the world encountered problems that also needed to be addressed and could be addressed within the framework of SDG such as arresting climate change, ????the pollution of the environment, ????empowerment of women and accommodating refugees.
It was recognized that the continuation of poverty in all its forms constituted an invitation to conflict including wars from which no one benefits. This necessitates that countries cooperate both regionally and when warranted globally, to change and improve the world order. Failure will constitute an impediment to the future growth of all, not just those who are deprived.
In eradicating poverty and enhancing global prosperity, governments, businesses and civil society organizations must work together. Governments, while acknowledging that private enterprise is often better suited to achieve economic development than state actors, must promote the evolution of businesses with a social orientation while civic society groups contribute both to the promotion of values of social responsibility and monitoring businesses with a view to encouraging their compliance.
It seems clear that the profit maximization paradigm alone will not be sufficient to lead the world to the achievement of SDGs. Coupled with financial globalization, this paradigm is insensitive to poverty and inequality as well as the limited capability of national governments to cope with poverty related problems that they are faced with within the framework of the rules that govern the contemporary international economy. A new paradigm must include, in addition to securing economic development, two additional pillars. The first is a social dimension that allows for the diffusion of prosperity to all segments of society. Prosperity, it should be made clear, is not limited to enjoying only enhanced material wealth but also better health, more education and freedom from fear. The second pillar is a sensitivity to climate change and our exhaustion of natural resources such as forests and seas, so as not to mortgage the prosperity of our children for the sake of careless investment and consumption today.
The shift to a social paradigm and the implementation of its requirements necessitates good governance. Elements of good governance include among others, effective state-citizen communication and cooperation, observing the rule of law, insuring the transparency and accountability of governments, the eradication of corruption at all levels as well as participatory global consultation.
More information can be found at : http://www.bogazicizirvesi.org/en/default.asp and
