G20-agenda: risk management

On the 14th of March, next week, the G20 countries are meeting in London to prepare for the global economic summit next month. What will be on the agenda? Financial regulators as tax, funds and bonusses. Of course. But the real focus will be on prevention and avoiding disasters. for the future.

Quite an ambition. It seems to be a first but firm reaction: “The G-20 now has a crucial role in driving forward work between advanced and emerging economies to tackle the international financial and economic crisis, restore worldwide financial stability, lead the international economic recovery and secure a sustainable future for all countries.”

The summit is more than that. It is simply stated a meeting, a gathering of twenty ‘people’ who feel insecure and endangered? So the meeting is not really about all those ambitions to restore , secure et cetera. The meeting is much more than that. The ambition is the enabler, hope the driving force. Reading the plans and documents it is all about looking into the future, create and feel new challenges and innovation with an new order, a new world?

In this “brave” new world risk management, new public management and governance will play a very important role. Because… because we need to develop more sophisticated sensing techniques and cultures to prevent us from disasters. Sometime we do walk in the blindfolded, don’t we? Every day politicans presents us different prognoses and answers. Do we know what is happening? Really?

After all we want welfare and prosperity, balance and peace. Is risk management the magic word? If you read between the lines, you sense it. But the ambitious agenda is a risk on its own. The ministers of finance are divided. One goes for more money to spend, the other do want more rules to control banks and the third wants more power as government. The Dutch minister of Finance Wouter Bos is saying that government can not cure anything, just make the consequences lighter to bare. What a difference with two months ago!