A CONVERSATION WITH SENEGAL’S MINISTER OF ECONOMY, PLANNING AND COOPERATION, OULIMATA SARR - As part of its annual dialogue series—held each year during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings—the Africa Center, in cooperation with the GeoEconomics Center, hosted Senegalese Minister of Finance and...

A CONVERSATION WITH CAMEROON’S MINISTER OF ECONOMY, ALAMINE OUSMANE MEY - As part of its annual dialogue series—held each year during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings—the Africa Center, in cooperation with the GeoEconomics Center, hosted Cameroon’s Minister of Economy, Planning, and Regiona...

FRACTURED FOUNDATIONS: ASSESSING RISKS TO HONG KONG’S BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT - Hong Kong’s legal and political structure has fundamentally changed since the implementation of the National Security Law in 2020. When changes of this magnitude occur, it is difficult for anyone to know what shifts are ...

SPECIAL EVENT WITH PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK GROUP DAVID MALPASS - The Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center hosted an AC Front Page event featuring David Malpass. Malpass participated in this keynote event at the Atlantic Council studios one week before the world’s finance ministers and central...

EU PERSPECTIVES ON FOOD SECURITY: A CONVERSATION WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR AGRICULTURE JANUSZ WOJCIECHOWSKI - This conversation took place at the approach of the one-year mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In addition to the horrific toll Russia’s brutality has taken on Ukraini...

ARE ALLIES ALIGNED ON ECONOMIC STATECRAFT? US-UK COOPERATION ON RUSSIA & BEYOND - The Group of Seven (G7) took on a new role in February last year. As the United States, United Kingdom and other G7 allies united to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, their response involved coordinated ec...

THE BILLION IN THE DISTANCE: HOW TECH EXPORTS CAN TRANSFORM CENTRAL ASIA - Information technology (IT) has become the cornerstone of modern economic development for countries all around the globe. In Central Asia, the IT sector is emerging as a potential engine for economic growth. The IT industr...

IMPROVING SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT AGAINST RUSSIA: THE CHALLENGE OF 2023 - The most intense year in the history of sanctions listings is over, leaving an intense implementation challenge for 2023. In 2022, Western sanctions programs expanded by forty-two percent. It will not be a surprise to anyone ...

OPEN FOR BUSINESS? INVESTING IN NORTHERN CENTRAL AMERICA - Nearly two years after the Call to Action for Northern Central America announcement, aggregate private sector commitments under this initiative total over $4.2 billion. In its next phase, Central America Forward aims to address broader ec...

HOW FREE MARKETS SHAPE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT - One of the defining questions of our time is whether free markets or economies controlled by authoritarian regimes are better at delivering prosperity for their people.

A panel of distinguished experts held a discussion on free markets and development ...

SAUDI ARABIA’S NEW ECONOMIC FORCE: WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS - The Atlantic Council’s empowerME Initiative held a hybrid panel discussion with its WIn Fellowship Roadshow participants on Thursday, March 2.

The WIn Fellowship Roadshow participants, chosen from a highly competitive cohort of more than t...

US LEADERSHIP IN THE FUTURE OF MONEY: A CONVERSATION WITH UNDER SECRETARY NELLIE LIANG - March 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring the Responsible Development of Digital Assets, which addressed both the risks and the potential benefits of digital ...

HOW TO SUSTAIN AND REBUILD UKRAINE’S ECONOMY - Russia’s war on Ukraine is the greatest violation of international order and the greatest direct challenge to American interests in the past twenty years. As Russia’s military has failed on the battlefield, the Kremlin had waged a deliberate war on U...

THE REAL IMPACT OF WESTERN SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA
- In 2022, sanctions formed a critical element of the West’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Those sanctions led to a contraction of the Russian economy, cut off Putin’s cronies from their lavish lifestyles in the West, and degra...

REPORT LAUNCH: STOPPING THE KLEPTOCRATS - The Atlantic Council was pleased to host the launch of the report “Stopping the kleptocrats: A strategy for the United States and Europe to address weaponized corruption.” This event featured US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as a keynote speaker and Minister...

THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS: FASTER, CHEAPER, SAFER? - Do banks need several days to settle transactions across borders? Can the cost of remittances be lowered? As the US rolls out FedNow, its instant payments network, and considers a CBDC, what’s next in the world of payments i...

A CONVERSATION WITH PRIME MINISTER OF THE NETHERLANDS MARK RUTTE - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and simultaneous upending of the transatlantic security order have both reinvigorated the Western alliance and prompted a rethink of Europe as a geopolitical actor. In the shadow of Russia’s war, leade...

A CONVERSATION WITH FOREIGN MINISTER OF PAKISTAN BILAWAL BHUTTO ZARDARI - Amid an ongoing climate catastrophe, the appointment of a new army chief, and a persisting economic crisis, Pakistan has witnessed a multitude of challenges and developments. In this AC Front Page event, Foreign Minister H....

NEXT STEPS FOR THE TTC: A CONVERSATION WITH UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE JOSE W. FERNANDEZ - Over the past year the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) has emerged as one of the most important institutions for transatlantic economic coordination. Aspiring to align US and European policy across a...

THE FUTURE OF US-AFRICA TRADE - The Atlantic Council hosted Ambassador Katherine Tai, the 19th United States Trade Representative, and Secretary General Wamkele Mene of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), for a fireside chat about US-African engagement in the AfCFTA.
This discussio...

TOOLS FOR OUR TIME: ECONOMIC STATECRAFT SINCE RUSSIA’S INVASION - The response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created new precedents for economic statecraft. The United States and Western allies have deployed economic tools to weaken Russia’s economy and curb its military advancement. These ...

LAUNCHING THE BRETTON WOODS 2.0 PROJECT - The GeoEconomics Center unveiled its Bretton Woods 2.0 Project with Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Director of the SPR Department at the IMF, and Carmen Reinhart, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and Professor at Harvard Kennedy School.

The Bretton Woods...

A CONVERSATION WITH MINISTER OF ECONOMY OF ARGENTINA SERGIO MASSA - In August 2022, Sergio Massa, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was sworn in as Argentina’s new Minister of Economy, a new Ministry which also includes the duties of the agriculture and production policies. He too...

A CONVERSATION WITH THE FINANCE MINISTER OF JORDAN H.E. MOHAMAD AL-ISSISS - The World Bank recently announced that Jordan’s economy is projected to grow by 2.1 percent; however, the country must still address certain economic challenges, including attracting more investment to spur job creation a...