BRICS Business Magazine English Edition No.4(8)

The world stands on a threshold – but of what? According to newspapers, on the threshold of drastic change. Alarmist headlines are all too familiar to us, and often seem like a good reason not to do or think about anything. Often and everywhere, we reiterate the universal significance of any given task. We sometimes declare that we are already working on it. For example, we try to prevent catastrophes in whatever form they may take – the dramatic growth of religious extremism spurred on by poverty, military conflicts seeping in from regional borders, a scarcity of water and energy, or the wanton pollution of our air and soil.

But words rarely reach minds. We think that a universal problem means that it is no one’s problem. It is easy to forget that great oaks grow from little acorns. The absence of an oak tree for a century is significant, but it is only grasped by those with highly-developed abstract thinking skills, which are sometimes lacking among today’s problem-solvers. Foreseeing changes and recognizing that the future does not have to be better than the present is just the beginning. The next step is to realize that you may not see the results of your efforts, but the following generation will.

Given such horizons, questions become somewhat ephemeral, and investing one’s energy becomes difficult. It helps to consider the world’s greatest challenges: politicians hampered by inbuilt priorities of national interests, tough but not always honest competition, simple mistrust, and rising costs. All of this is plain to see even amongst countries that consider themselves to be natural partners.

Yet for all these challenges, I believe that the word ‘collaboration’ will largely define the 21st century. If we seek past experiences to rely upon, the best examples are scientific and quasiscientific projects that did not hold any immediate benefit: the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the International Space Station, or CERN. The rewards of such projects, although perhaps not felt instantaneously, are spreading to everyone on Earth. It is of greatest importance are the ability to work for the long term, have a jeweler’s precision, agree on all actions, and commit to a goal which, upon first glance, is entirely impractical. Yet this is the only way to change the world for the better.

Ruben Vardanyan,

Chairman of the Editorial Board of BRICS Business Magazine

Authors & Experts

Mahamoud Ali Youssouf

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Djibouti

Arsen Gasparyan

Director of the US Bureau of Barcelona-based Esproenko

Erwin Arrieta-Valera

Former Minister of Mines and Energy of Venezuela

Vladimir Yashin

First Deputy Chairman of the Board at Promsvyazbank

Ian Goldin

Director of the Oxford Martin School, Professor of Globalization and Development at the University of Oxford

Zadok Hakim

Chairman of the Board at JAG Energy

Sergey Chemezov

CEO of Rostec

Joe Watt

Chairman of the Management Committee and Managing Partner, EY, CIS

Mukesh Eswaran

Professor of Economics at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, Canada

Sirjjan Preet

Research Consultant at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)

Simon Anholt

independent policy advisor on strategies, author of the Nation Brands Index, winner of the 2009 Nobels Colloquia Prize for Leadership on Business and Economic Thinking