Special correspondent of Eurasia Diary at the Conference told that almost 1000 guests from all over the world are expected to participate at the Congress.
The Congress was opened by Ingeborg Breines and Reiner Braun, IPB Co-Presidents Welcome from the Technical University Berlin by Christian Thomsen, President of the Technical University Greetings from the City of Berlin by Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen.
Among the speakers at the World Congress, there are several prominent guests such as, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, the founder of the “Right Livelihood Award” Jakob von Uexküll, the laureates of the “Right Livelihood Award” Vandana Shiva and Alyn Ware, prominent economists like James Galbraith, Noam Chomsky (via video) and Samir Amin, the Co-President of the Club of Rome Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, the secretary generals of ITUC and UNI Global Union Sharan Burrow and Philip Jennings, the former Director General of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the former Defence Minister of Ecuador and current Permanent Representative of her country to the United Nations in Geneva María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the director general of the United Nations office in Geneva Michael Møller, and the chairman of ver.di Frank Bsirske and Umud Mirzayev board member of IPB, chairman of International Eurasia Press Fund.
The world’s governments spend some $1,700 billion on the military sector and the expenditure is on the rise. The Congress organizers would want this money instead to be spent on a wide-ranging global transformation towards a culture of peace, notably:
- Climate change mitigation and preservation of biodiversity;
- Peace, human security, disarmament, conflict prevention, transformation and resolution;
- Social justice, human rights, gender equality, public services and creation of decent and environmentally sound jobs;
- Sustainable development, new production and consumption patterns, anti-poverty programs, UN Sustainable Development Goals;
- Humanitarian programs to support the most vulnerable.
Hence, shift in government spending is one element in a much broader global transformation towards a green, socially just and peaceful society. The crisis of civilization seems more far-reaching than the ecological and economic crisis alone.
The main aim of this Congress is to bring the issue of military spending, often seen as a technical question, into a broader public debate on the future of both humanity and the planet. The organizers hope hereby also to strengthen the global community of activism and partnership for a world without war.
The IPB World Congress is supported by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), UNI Global Union, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), by international religious organisations (of different persuasions), organisations from the environmental and development policy sector as well as by the three big political foundations in Germany: Heinrich Böll, Friedrich Ebert and Rosa Luxemburg.
Chairman of the International Eurasia Press Fund, Mr.Umud Mirzayev is taking part in the IPB World Congress
