The 21st Century Council focused mainly on supporting the ongoing initiatives of the Group of 20 – structural economic reforms and improving the international financial architecture – as well as debating ways to strengthen the G20 itself. Meeting in Mexico City at the beginning of May, the council also discussed President Felipe Calderon’s signature issue for the Mexican G20 presidency -- green growth – and met with the president to present the council’s recommendations, which were also the basis for a public statement. Meetings with two of the candidates hoping to replace Calderon, and presentations on “Is Democracy Self-Correcting?” and “Jobs, Trade and Technology,” rounded out the three-day meeting.

Agustin Carstens, Mexico’s central bank governor, spoke to the question of improving the international financial architecture, while WTO head Pascal Lamy gave a talk on the current trade situation.

Raghuram Rajan spoke on domestic paths to global governance, deepening our discussion on a point raised by many members: that global governance needs to find ways to “go local” if international coordination is to blend successfully with national, regional and other non-global loyalties and networks. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Christophe Nuttal both presented on regional and city-to-city networks, while Mario Molina gave an update on the climate change debate.

Paul Martin and Gordon Brown both spoke on the history and prospects of the G20 model, including the possibilities (such as a G20 secretariat) for improved G20 effectiveness. Ernesto Zedillo, who was prevented by last-minute weather shifts from attending, sent a paper on the subject, arguing for a limited macroeconomic mandate and closer G20 coordination with the IMF.

The economic crisis was a constant thread, particularly in the presentations by Larry Summers and Laura Tyson (on demand creation and employment) and Eric Schmidt (on technology), while Ping Chen emphasized that the era of “convergent growth” and U.S.-led globalization is over, to be replaced by “plural growth” and a “scope” rather than “scale” economy.

Francis Fukuyama, George Yeo, and Eric Li staked out a range of position on democracy. While all saw roles for democratic government of different types and on different scales, none advocated a one-size-fits-all model.

The council met with two of the presidential candidates -- Gabriel Quadri de la Torre and the eventual winner, Enrique Pena Nieto – and spent the final morning in a working breakfast with President Calderon at Los Pinos.

The council’s first informal dinner was at the Four Seasons and focused on political change in the U.S. and China. Later dinners were graciously hosted by Manuel Arango and Carlos Slim.

The council is now preparing to send a delegation to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin and, separately, to meet in 2013 with the new leadership in China.

Council members and guests at the Mexico City meeting (in person or by video link) were:

Manuel Arango, Environmentalist and Philanthropist

Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Nicolas Berggruen, Chairman of 21st Century Council

Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil

Agustin Carstens, Governor of the Bank of Mexico

Juan Luis Cebrian, CEO of PRISA, Chairman of El Pais

Ping Chen, Professor of economics & finance, Peking University

Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas

Bruno Ferrari, Secretary of the Economy, Government of Mexico

Francis Fukuyama, Professor, Stanford University

Nathan Gardels, Senior Advisor, Nicolas Berggruen Institute

Ramon Alberto Garza, Founder and CEO of IndigoMedia

Felipe Gonzalez, former President of Spain

John Gray, philosopher, Professor Emeritus London School of Economics

Nobuyuki Idei, CEO Quantum Leaps Corporation

Josef Joffe, Editor, Die Zeit and Senior Fellow, Freeman-Spogli Institute, Stanford.

Wu Jianmin, former Chinese Ambassador to France

Pascal Lamy, Secretary General of World Trade Organization

Pablo Legorreta, CEO Royalty Pharma

Eric X. Li, Managing Director of Chengwei Capital

Scott Malcomson, Director of Communications and Senior Advisor, Nicolas Berggruen Institute

Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada

Mario Molina, Nobel laureate

Dambisa Moyo, Economist, Author

Dawn Nakagawa, Executive Director, Nicolas Berggruen Institute

Antonio Navalon, Political analyst, author and President of EISA Group

Christophe Nuttall, Executive Director of the R20

Enrique Peña Nieto, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, New Alliance Party

Raghuram Rajan, Professor, University of Chicago

Nouriel Roubini, Chairman Roubini Global Economics

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google

Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Founder and CEO 3G Capital

N.K. Singh, member of Parliament, India

Carlos Slim, Chairman and CEO of TelMex, America Movil

Lawrence Summers, former United States Secretary of the Treasury

Laura Tyson, Professor University of California Berkeley

Feng Wei, Deputy Secretary-General, China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy

George Yeo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Singapore

Visit the council page