Dear Governor Dukakis, prof. Patterson, dear Ambassador Markarova, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Boston Global Forum made the right choice to award the 2022 World Leader for Peace and Security Prize to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The people of Ukraine, under the leadership of President Zelenskyy, are fighting not only for their own land, but also on our behalf. The outcome of this war, which Russia has provoked, will have global consequences. I use the analogy of history as a volcano that erupts. Now is a moment when the lava is flowing and still hot. That is why every action and inaction in these weeks and months will shape the future landscape of Europe and beyond for many decades to come. That is why we have to get it right, we have to help Ukraine win this war and remain on the map of Europe.
Latvia is not surprised at the strength of Ukrainian resistance. Ukraine knows, we know what it means to live under Russian rule. Never again will we be wiped off the map of Europe!
There are short, medium un long-term tasks in order to help Ukraine.
The immediate is maximum possible support in military equipment. Latvia has already given equipment equal to one third of our defence budget since the war began. Here I commend the fullhearted support by the US under the leadership of President Biden.
The humanitarian crisis inside Ukraine and outside, given the numbers of refugees, is the greatest Europe has seen since World War II. The human losses and tragedies that Ukraine has experienced will be felt for decades to come. The least we can do is give refuge while homes and lives are rebuilt.
Sanctions against Russia need to be effective, wide-ranging and convincing! For far too long and too heavily Western countries have relied on Russian gas and oil. This is the moment to change our consumption patterns and switch to sustainable energy technologies.
A particular focus for me is support for Ukraine’s claims in the ICJ and the ICC. I also believe a special tribunal should be created, such as for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Those perpetrating war crimes – from Putin at the top to every individual so-to-say just fulfilling orders, will be held accountable, sooner of later. Evidence is being gathered from refugees in Latvia that will one day be useful in an international tribunal.
Ukraine will have massive rebuilding needs once the war ends, but even now it needs financial help to cover essential expenditures. We anticipate a new kind of Marshall plan for Ukraine. Within the EU there is widespread support that Ukraine should be granted EU candidate country status and its application fast-tracked.
Various other platforms can be used to extend a helping hand, including the Three Seas Initiative, which Latvia is currently chairing, and where the US is a long-standing partner, with bipartisan support. The infrastructure needs of Ukraine will be immense, we can look for ways to build better digital, transport and energy connections between Ukraine and the EU.
When meeting with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on 13 April, the Presidents of the three Baltic states and Poland were there in solidarity with Ukraine, but behind this show of solidarity is also serious practical help for Ukraine. Our region, in turn, feels that kind of solid support from the US – President Biden and Vice-President Harris have several times met with us and reassured us that Article 5 of the NATO is ‘sacrosanct’. We have always advocated stronger Transatlantic links and now we truly feel the bond. Just like 100 years ago, when the US recognized the newly independent Baltic states de iure.
Now is the time to recognize our shared responsibility for saving Ukraine from Russia, and hopefully one day saving Russia from itself. Now is the time to give immediate help to Ukraine, to focus on our long-term sustainable energy needs, to build resilience against disinformation and defend media freedom, to know and understand the history of the past and of the history that is being made right now.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to address you on this very special occasion. I was very honored last year when I received the World Leader for Peace and Security Award from the Boston Global Forum, and it is a great honor to come back to say a few words at this year’s award ceremony as the speaker of the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag. I have joined so many others and condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Riksdag has manifested strong support for Ukraine, expressed through unique decisions to send supplies including weapons. The people of Ukraine have a right to defend themselves against this brutal aggression, and we have a moral obligation to support them in that struggle. Russia’s acts are not only an attack on freedom and democracy but also on the European and global security order. Often, we like to look for nuances. We prefer not to see things purely in black or white, good or evil. Today, however, this is not possible. There is no justification for Russia’s vicious war against Ukraine and the suffering it is inflicting on the Ukrainian people in this appalling situation. We have witnessed great bravery from the people of Ukraine. We have also seen admirable leadership from many, in particular the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been a true leader at this most pivotal of times. His extraordinary courage and leadership have been crucial to the Ukrainian war effort, and he has worked tirelessly also to bring the world’s attention to the atrocities committed by the Russian forces. I therefore strongly support the decision of the Boston Global Forum board to honor President Zelenskyy and all the Ukrainian people as 2022 world leader for peace and security. I cannot imagine a more worthy recipient of this award. We stand with President Zelenskyy and Ukraine in this struggle, because freedom matters, peace matters, Ukraine matters. Thank you
Dear Governor Dukakis, dear President Levits, dear Speaker Norlen, and all the distinguished guests. I’m so honored and happy to be here today, and to address to the Boston Global Forum. For 65 days, you see how Ukraine is defending itself from a brutal enemy. For 65 days Ukraine fights for our houses, for our homes, for our people, for our lands, but also for freedom and democracy. We fight for their rights to be who we are, to live peacefully in our country, and to decide how we want to live in our country.
For 65 days, we have seen unbelievable destruction of our country. We have seen ceaseless attacks from the sky, from east, north, and from south. We have seen some of the cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv and Tserkva destroyed to the ground. We have seen attacks on civilian orchards and hospitals and schools. We have seen destruction of universities which were there, some of them for more than 200 years, and even the World War II did not destroy them. We experience unimaginable losses. More than 4.5 million people had to flee Ukraine, and many are women and children, to save their lives. More than 7 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine. More than 10 million people, as we speak today, live under brutal conditions under occupation, without water, without food, without the basic needs for medical supplies.
But also for the 65 days, we have shown to the world an example of bravery, starting with our unbelievably great president, Volodymyr Zelensky, not only when this phase of the war started, and I want to remind you that this war is in Ukraine for the past eight years. Russia attacked us in 2014. But during the first 65 days, as soon as Russia started its full-fledged attack and invasion in this phase of the war, President Zelenskyy came out, and he said, “The president is here. I’m here, and stay in Kyiv. We will not surrender. We will not give up. We will defend what we love and what we believe in. And this is what we are doing. And this is the whole nation fighting: Our brave armed forces, our National Guard, our rescuers. But every Ukrainian center is doing what our president has said we would do, and we will not give up. Ukrainians love [to] build things. We love [to] grow wheat. We love to initiate startups. But today we all had to postpone what we were doing in our ordinary lives, and we all have to defend our country. And we’re very grateful to all of our strategic friends and allies and especially to the United States for all the support, with weapon, with sanctions, with financial and energy support to Ukraine. Because this fight is so much more than you think. This fight is about the global situation. This fight is about whether Europe and in general the democratic world can feel safe, whether you can make the civilisational choice to be democratic, to be free, to be sovereign and not be attacked by the brutal enemy.
On behalf of my president and all Ukrainians, firstly, great thank you. And our deepest gratitude for this act of support and for the World Leaders Award for Peace and Security. I agree with you that nobody deserves it better than our president, who has shown an outstanding example of leadership under the dire circumstances. I would like to also thank you for this event and for the efforts that all of your professors and all of the distinguished guests have taken in order to help us to already brainstorm and say, how are we going to deal with things? Because for us, the number one goal, of course, is to win in this war. And as we are certain not to surrender, we are certain that with the help of all of our friends and allies, we will win this war, and peace will return to Ukraine, and then we will build back Ukraine better. We will build a new innovative Ukraine 2022.0., which will be the most efficient, the most democratic, the most innovative. And we would be able to see all of our friends and allies to participate in this new endeavor. So with that, let me again thank you for this award. Thank you for inviting me to speak at the beginning of this conference. I wish you very fruitful discussions today. And we need all the prayers and all the weapons that anyone can provide to us and present all of us, democratic people. People who love freedom and who are ready to fight for it will win.
Governor Michael Dukakis, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Zaneta Ozolina
Thomas Patterson, Nazli Choucri, Alex Sandy Pentland, David Silbersweig, Mats Karlsson, Jim McManus
As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues, global leaders and diplomatic observers have turned their attention to two distinct agendas to help resolve the conflict. The first is to provide immediate support for Ukraine as it endures unprecedented attacks by Russia conducted with modern weapons and massive military power. The second involves planning for the prevention of unprovoked aggression through the adoption of values and standards that will ensure peaceful relations worldwide.
Short Term Strategies to Support Ukraine
Most immediate are the actions to support Ukraine and demonstrate the extent of global opposition to such aggression with indiscriminate violence. Bombing of urban civilian areas — apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and farms — violates international law and norms of warfare agreed upon by the international community.
Participants in the Boston Global Forum Conference April 29, 2022 proposed the follow steps to assist Ukraine at this critical time of immense need:
Provide humanitarian and other support to address the war-related health crisis in Ukrainian cities and towns. This includes medical supplies, health care providers, equipment, temporary hospitals and all related assistance;
Deliver advanced weapons, offensive and defensive, to compensate for uneven scales in the war;
Share all intelligence information with the Ukrainian Government — including contributions by NATO and European nations– pertaining to Russian troop movements, tactical weapons locations and battle plans;
Sustain existing economic sanctions and impose sanctions to energy resources, which at the present moment is the main financial source supporting Russia’s war machinery
Support and engage in the debate on limitation and exclusion of Russia from the UN Security Council, as a country which does not respect the UN Charter and its founding principles.
Provide strategic military advice to help in the fight against Russian air, ground and naval forces;
Assist Ukrainian students and children, in the country who face shortages of basic needs such as food, shelter and medical care. Assist in sustaining, where possible, educational institutions. Call on Ukrainian students outside the country to find ways of helping and rebuilding Ukraine.
Call for organizing a High-Level International Conference on Peace, Security and Territorial Integrity for Ukraine, with participation of leaders from Russia, Ukraine, United States, and the European Union, to be held in Paris, Riga, or Stockholm.
Future Strategies to Support Ukraine
The Ukraine invasion is a painful lesson for the world that compromise with dictators and authoritarian regimes only feeds aggression. In response, speakers at the Boston Global Forum focused on the advantages of promoting development of a competitive economy, in conjunction with a flourishing democratic political system.
Above all, the war on Ukraine has highlighted ways in which the leaders of Russia deceive the public through their messages and actions, and the use of their propaganda systems. They promised to create “humanitarian corridors” to allow civilian non-combatants to leave areas under attack, only to renege on those promises. Russia has not made any serious attempt to engage in peace talks. All evidence so far is of hollow commitments.
Speakers at the conference underscored the need to address Russia’s aggression and its unprecedented disinformation by adopting specific steps:
Promote shared democratic values through multilateral organizations, NGOs, universities, business entities, and academic centers; Comprehensive multinational and new form of Marshall plan is needed for Ukraine ensuring fast reconstruction and recovery from the war. It will serve as a coordinated and efficient platform for economic development, social assistance and human empowerment.
Develop legal and humanitarian standards as foundation for 21st century international relations. For example, the Social Contract for the AI Age and the book Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment provide invaluable guidance for rational rule-making in the Age of Digital and AI.
Encourage the formation of a New Alliance to protect rational standards and the security of countries that support them.
Discussion Leaders: Governor Michael Dukakis and Nguyen Anh Tuan
Advisor: Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to President Obama, Harvard professor
Contributors: Professors Alex Sandy Pentland, Thomas Patterson, Nazli Choucri, David Silbersweig, Francesco Lapenta, former Vice President of the World Bank Mats Karlsson, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija, former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, father of Internet Vint Cerf, Assistant Secretary of Massachusetts Government Nam Pham, EY Global Tax Innovation Leader Jeff Saviano
The Ukrainian people are currently enduring an unprovoked war that has resulted in tens of thousands of combatant and civilian deaths. Many cities and towns have been utterly destroyed by indiscriminate Russian bombing. The free, Democratic nations of the world have rallied around Ukraine to provide military and humanitarian assistance.
The focus of the Boston Global Forum is to help coordinate and call on world leaders, distinguished thinkers, innovators, governments, companies, organizations is on helping to end the war and provide for the basic needs of the Ukrainian people who remain in the country and those who have fled the fighting. When the war ends, there is an opportunity for Ukraine and its allies to rebuild the nation as a model of peace, stability and prosperity. The Boston Global Forum is starting to build strategies and programs for Rebuilding Ukraine.
Strategies for Rebuilding Ukraine
Following hostilities, as Ukraine turns its attention to rebuilding the nation and society, it is imperative to apply standards, norms and common values outlined in the Social Contract for the AI Age and pioneering ideas and concepts contained in the book “Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment,” with contributions by distinguished leaders and thinkers.
The book “Remaking the World” advances pioneering ideas that could help reshape the world as the United Nations progresses toward its centennial in 2045, and addresses the standards that should govern the development and use of AI and digital technology.
These ideas and standards have been the subject of several recent conferences, including the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid Policy Labs on September 16-18, 2020 and September 7-9, 2021, as well as the Riga Conferences in 2020 and 2021.
Goals
Building a smart democracy, smart cities with high-quality smart schools, where citizens are directly involved in the political decisions of the country. A nation where institutions and structures promote kind, humane, civilized, creative, innovative policies and practices. Where the rule of law protects equality of opportunities for all people, openness, transparency, and engagement with civic institutions. And, the system of taxation is transparent, equitable, and provides sufficient certainty to citizen taxpayers to aid in Ukraine’s recovery.
To apply these concepts to rebuild Ukraine, strategies discussed at the recent conferences include:
Rebuilding cities and infrastructure
Building AI World Society (AIWS) City for Ukraine:
Apply model concepts of AIWS City to rebuild Ukrainian cities as smart cities.
AIWS City is a smart digital city with distinguished communities.
Connect historical, traditional cities as Boston, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Rome, Athens, Vienna, Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Edinburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Dubrovnik, Zurich, Geneva, Jerusalem, Tokyo etc. to the AIWS City for Ukraine.
Build a digital platform and components of AIWS City for Ukraine: Digital Home, Art and Cultural Institutions, Smart Digital and AI University, Innovation Ecosystem, Smart Healthcare Centers, Markets.
Infrastructure:
Solutions to reconstruct infrastructures of Ukrainian cities:
Combine rebuilding cities to optimal and maximize resources, costs.
BGF connects and calls cities, governments, companies, foundations to support Ukrainian government and cities to reconstruct cities and transportation system of Ukraine.
Projects and Programs for Rebuilding Ukraine:
Phase 1: Civic and Social Engagement
Michael Dukakis Leadership Fellows for Ukraine
Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Develop and support young Ukrainian leaders
AIWS Leadership for Ukraine
Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Educate leaders to lead and rebuild Ukraine
AIWS University for Ukraine: support Ukrainian students and universities
Build “Online Center of Knowledge for Innovation” to support Ukraine, build online resources to help connect and guide Ukrainian refugees so that they can quickly rebuild their lives
Applying AIWS Rewards to recognize contributions of students and scholars to Ukrainian students and universities
Led by Harvard Professor Thomas Patterson, Professor Francesco Lapenta, Former Japanese State Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, Bui Thanh Nhon, Coordinators
Creating and building global brand names for Ukraine
Advise and help promote PR high quality products and services of Ukraine become global brand names.
Professor John Quelch and Nguyen Anh Tuan, Coordinators
Building a Digital and AI Platform for Ukrainian cities (AIWS City for Ukraine)
Every citizen has one digital home, bring gem cities of the world to Ukraine
Bringing solutions to reconstruct infrastructure of Ukrainian cities
BGF connects and calls cities, governments, companies, foundations to support
Ukrainian government and cities to reconstruct cities and transportation system of Ukraine
Led by Governor Michael Dukakis, Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija and BGF CEO Nguyen Anh Tuan, Coordinators
Phase 2: AIWS Government for Ukraine
Build a “smart” government aided by AI and Digital technologies, guided by concepts of AIWS Government
Develop the next generation digital public infrastructure, modeled after Estonia and other leading digital government nations
AIWS Citizen and Information Ecosystem for Ukraine
Ukraine Community Innovation Ecosystem, including new distributed systems for greater national resilience
AIWS Financial System, with a reimagined set of tax policies that encourage future growth and prosperity for Ukraine
Led by Jason Furman, Mats Karlsson, Alex Sandy Pentland, Jeff Saviano
Resources for Support of Ukraine
AIWS Network of distinguished leaders, thinkers, innovators (AIWS.net), AIWS.city and call on companies, universities, foundations, for support
Connect and invite top universities from across the globe
