More than 580 people descended on the Lord Louis Library in Newport last week to find out more about career opportunities within the Island’s care and health sector.
Organised by the Isle of Wight Council, the event showcased the wide range of jobs, career paths and apprenticeships available on the Island to make a real difference to people’s lives.
The day also provided an opportunity for those interested in a rewarding career in care and health to talk to staff to find out what skills are needed to get into these vital roles.
Among the organisations in attendance were Mountbatten, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Alzheimer Cafe, Practice Plus Group and a host of independent care providers from around the Island, along with council teams from adult social care, children’s services and public health.
Katy Harwood, the council’s recruitment team leader, said: “We wanted to shine a spotlight on the rewarding careers available locally.
“We need more people to join the Island’s care and health workforce supporting Island residents when they need it most.
“A career in care and health is so much more than people may think, so this event was a great opportunity to bring together a wide range of organisations and showcase the different types of jobs available and how valuable this work is.
“Lots of employers had productive discussions on the day and potential hires which was great to hear.
“As well as our sector employers, it was also good to see visitors engaging with additional support and training/learning services represented through Isle of Wight College, Adult Learning, DWP, Working Towards Wellbeing and National Careers Service.
“I hope all involved found it a rewarding day, and that visitors left feeling inspired to pursue a career in care and health.”
Councillor Debbie Andre, Cabinet member for adult social care and public health, added: “A career in health and social care can be incredibly rewarding and there are many different career paths that people can follow.
“This event highlighted not only the range of employment available, but that entry can be open at any stage of life and that previous life experience can be a great advantage in enabling those supported to live their best lives through those joining the caring profession.”
The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Deputy Rob Ward, in conjunction with the Jersey Child Care Trust (JCCT), is opening a new nursery provision for 2–3-year-olds with additional needs, at d’Auvergne School.
This provision is one of a number of initiatives taking place to support the Minister’s ambition to extend the nursery and childcare provision for children aged 2-3, within the Government’s Common Strategic Policy (CSP) 2024-2026.
The nursery will open in October and is a pilot scheme; the opportunity to open more 2-3 provisions within Government primary schools is being explored.
Deputy Ward said: “I’m delighted that we are able to offer this provision to parents and families in the coming weeks. It is the first step, and one of a number of possible options we’re looking at to achieve the universal offer for 2- to 3-year-olds.
“I committed to these pilots when I became Minister, as part of this Government’s Common Strategic Policy, and reaching this point is the culmination of a lot of hard work.
“I’d like to thank the Jersey Child Care Trust and the d’Auvergne leadership team for creating this new provision at such pace.”
Headteacher of d’Auvergne, Sam Cooper said: “This marks an exciting new chapter for the school and makes clear sense to use free space in primary schools to expand our nursery provision. We’re very happy to support the pilot in any way we can and look forward to welcoming more children into our wider school community”.
The provision will be known as ‘Play and Learn at d’Auvergne’ and will include the children’s families too, by inviting them to join in with Play and Learn sessions once a week.
Fiona Vacher, Executive Director of JCCT said: “We know the life changing impact that a good quality, early years’ experience has on children and particularly those with developmental and financial need. Previously JCCT has been unable to fund a part-time nursery place for every child who needed it because of a lack of available nursery places.
“When the Minister for Education approached us, we knew we had to prioritise creating ‘Play and Learn at d’Auvergne’ as we want to make sure that every child has access to the nurture, care and learning they need to thrive.”
Artist Susan Connolly pictured at the opening of her exhibition GROUND (100+one) at the FE McWilliam Gallery
The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council are delighted to present GROUND (100+one), an exhibition by Belfast based painter Susan Connolly which is now on view at the Banbridge arts venue.
GROUND (100+one), an exciting new body of work, responds to the specific context of the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and is informed by Connolly’s research into Mainie Jellett’s groundbreaking artwork, Decoration (1923), the first modern abstract painting exhibited in Ireland.
Connolly pushes painting to its limits through processes that include layering, scoring, cutting and peeling paint from its support. The title GROUND refers to the one thing shared by every painting – a surface, on which to apply the pigment. (100+one) references the number of years since Jellett’s piece Decoration was first exhibited in Ireland and also the one hundred paintings and collages that Connolly set herself the task of producing for this exhibition.
Jellett’s approach to painting was shaped by the time that she spent in Paris studying and collaborating with the Cubist artist Albert Gleizes. Decoration provoked confusion and hostility when it was first exhibited in Dublin in 1923. Connolly’s interest in Jellett is both as a pioneer and an abstract painter who challenged preconceptions of painting.
Curator of the FE McWilliam Gallery, Dr Riann Coulter said; “Susan is one of our most innovative painters and her engagement with Mainie Jellett’s iconic piece, Decoration, which now hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland, has produced a fascinating body of work that is both a homage to Jellett and a contemporary continuation of her efforts to expand definitions of painting.”
Originally from Kildare, Susan is now based between Belfast and Waterford where she is a lecturer and Course Leader in the Visual Art Department of South East Technological University. She studied at Limerick College of Art and Design, the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and Belfast School of Art where she was awarded an MFA and PhD. Susan is a member of Queen Street Studios and her work is in public and private collections throughout Ireland including the Arts Council of Ireland the Office of Public Works.
The exhibition is accompanied by a limited-edition art book designed by Alex Synge with texts by Sarah Long, Craig Staff and Riann Coulter.
GROUND (100+one) continues at the FE McWilliam Gallery until 2 November 2024. For further information including opening times go to FE McWilliam Gallery
People in Leeds are being encouraged to have their say on the possible introduction of a new regulatory licensing scheme for private sector rented housing.
Leeds City Council began operating a system known as ‘selective licensing’ in Beeston and Harehills in 2020 with the aim of driving up the standard of privately-rented homes and boosting wider efforts to tackle social and health inequalities in the two communities.
Positive results have been achieved but – under the terms of the Housing Act 2004 – selective licensing schemes in England can only run for a period of five years.
The council is therefore now considering plans for a new and expanded scheme that would again include much of Beeston and Harehills but would also take in parts of Armley, Holbeck, Cross Green and East End Park.
All private landlords – with certain limited exceptions – would be required by law to obtain a licence for any residential property they are seeking to let in the designated area.
The licence conditions would include ensuring the safe working of gas or electric appliances, providing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and keeping the property in a decent state of repair, both inside and out.
A public consultation on the proposed scheme was launched yesterday (Monday, September 23), with the council keen to gather a wide cross-section of views before it decides whether to press ahead with its plans.
And interested parties across the city – including landlords, tenants and other stakeholders – are being urged to take the opportunity to share their thoughts between now and the end of the consultation period on December 13.
Councillor Jess Lennox, Leeds City Council’s executive member for housing, said:
“Privately rented properties are a key source of housing in Leeds and it’s vitally important that they are safe, warm and well managed places to live.
“We want to explore options for protecting and improving the quality of every type of home in our city, with the newly-launched consultation on selective licensing forming part of that work.
“I would encourage as many people as possible to let us know their views over the course of the next few months.”
More than 4,500 inspections and other visits have been conducted at properties in Beeston and Harehills under their existing schemes, which both come to an end next year.
Landlords have had to carry out improvement work on more than 1,500 homes where issues were identified during these checks.
The visits have also given council officers increased opportunities to identify situations where tenants are facing non-housing related problems, with more than 1,700 referrals being made to partner agencies for support with health, financial and other challenges.
The areas provisionally earmarked for the new scheme all sit within the Armley, Beeston & Holbeck, Burmantofts & Richmond Hill, Gipton & Harehills and Hunslet & Riverside council wards.
These wards have higher levels of deprivation than the city as a whole and an above-average concentration of private rented housing.
A decision on whether to bring in the new Selective Licensing in East, South & West Leeds scheme is expected in the first half of 2025.
To learn more about the consultation and how to submit feedback, click here. Further information can also be obtained by e-mailing ESWselective.licensing@leeds.gov.uk or ringing 0113 378 2899.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin presented a model of the latest domestic train “White Gyrfalcon” (Bely Krechet) for the high-speed rail line Moscow — Saint Petersburg, a project initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the “Manezh Station: Moscow Transport 2030” exhibition. The train will reach speeds of up to 400 km/h.
During the presentation at Manezh, an agreement was signed for the delivery of 41 Russian trains for the high-speed rail line HSR-1 “Moscow – Tver – Veliky Novgorod – Saint Petersburg.”
The ceremony saw attendance from Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vitaly Saveliev, Deputy Transport Minister Alexey Shilo, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport Maksim Liksutov, General Director of Russian Railways JSC (RZD) Oleg Belozerov, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank Alexander Vedyakhin, General Director of HSR Two Capitals LLC Oleg Toni, General Director of GTLK JSC Evgeny Ditrikh, General Director of Sinara Group JSC Viktor Lesh, and Anatoly Gavrilenko, General Director of Leader CJSC – the company organizing the financing for the project through non-state pension funds.
Inside the latest domestic train “White Gyrfalcon”. Moscow Metro.
The innovative Russian rolling stock meets the highest safety and comfort standards. All key components are manufactured in Russia, with assembly and commissioning taking place at the Ural Locomotives plant in Sverdlovsk Oblast.
According to Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport Maksim Liksutov, the domestic trains are both safe and comfortable. Each train consists of 8 carriages with several service classes. The train ride to Saint Petersburg will be nearly twice as fast as the Sapsan, taking only 2 hours and 15 minutes. The first carriages will depart for Saint Petersburg in 2028.
Travel time between Moscow and Tver will be 39 minutes, between Saint Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod — 29 minutes. From Zelenograd to central Moscow, the journey will take just 14 minutes.
The latest domestic train “White Gyrfalcon”. Moscow Metro.
“On behalf of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, we have presented a unique transportation exhibit at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall. A part of the exhibition is dedicated to President Vladimir Putin’s project — HSR-1. The first carriages of the latest ‘White Gyrfalcon’ train will depart for Saint Petersburg on the HSR in 2028. The main design solutions for creating Russia’s first high-speed train HSR-1 were developed in Moscow. Some components for the high-speed trains will be produced by Moscow enterprises. The lifespan of the trains is 30 years, during which the manufacturer will be responsible under a life cycle contract,” said Maksim Liksutov.
Along with the HSR train model, visitors at Manezh Square can see the newest “Ivolga 4.0” trains, the “Moscow-2024” metro carriage, and the updated “Kamaz” electric bus. The internal exhibition features a multimedia HSR train where visitors can take a virtual journey along the high-speed rail route and explore the landmarks of the cities along the way.
The “Manezh Station: Moscow Transport 2030” exhibition, where the model is featured, is part of the forum-festival “Future Territory: Moscow 2030” and has become the most visited in Manezh’s history. Admission is free, and the exhibition runs until September 8 at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall.
PayPal’s updated user agreement will go into effect on October 7th – the platform will charge fees to inactive accounts according to the following terms:
there have been no withdrawal transactions on the wallet in the last year; the account balance is positive – the amount and currency do not matter; the commission will be 3.5 thousand rubles per year or the total balance, if the amount on the balance is less; the commission will be withheld for the extension of service; if the user does not agree with the updated terms, the wallet must be closed before October 7.
Inactive clients of the platform, from whom a commission will be withheld, also include persons who have not entered their profile for a year – the new rules will affect not only Russians, but also users from other countries.
Why did PayPal suspend work with Russian clients?
PayPal’s departure from the Russian Federation became known in early March 2022 – then, against the backdrop of the beginning of the Cold War and the sanctions imposed by the United States, the company suspended operations in the country, promising users time to withdraw funds. Now, registration of new clients from Russia is unavailable on the platform, and services for receiving and sending payments are closed for compatriots.
“The departure of PayPal from Russia was a blow to freelancers and small businesses working with foreign partners. Russians also lost the ability to pay for purchases in a number of foreign stores, such as Steam and PS Store,” the expert noted.
Although PayPal promised Russians the ability to withdraw funds from wallets, access to the payment system’s website was closed immediately after the announcement of its withdrawal from the country – no instructions on how to withdraw money from the balance were provided either. The service continues to operate in more than 200 countries around the world, serving over 300 million active clients.
12:00 09/24/2024
Source:
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
In the capital ended festival “Summer in Moscow. Everyone out on the street!”. 600 entertainment venues were organized for city residents and tourists, including at the festival sites of “Moscow Seasons”. Visitors bought 35 thousand portions of various treats and 16 thousand liters of soft drinks. During the festival, souvenir shops and shopping chalets sold about 11 thousand memorable gifts, jewelry and decorative items. This was reported by the capital’s Department of Trade and Services.
Guests especially loved craft chocolate, hand-made ice cream and pine cone jam. At each site, you could try meat and fish dishes cooked on the grill, and national culinary delicacies from vendors from all over the country.
From the world of gadgets to reality
In the summer, Muscovites attended concerts and theatrical performances by groups from all over Russia. Thousands of master classes were held at the venues of the festival “Summer in Moscow. Everyone out on the street!”, where adults and children made home decor, toys, jewelry and fashion accessories, as well as culinary masterpieces with the help of experienced chefs. Young guests attended programming, English and archeology classes, and drawing lessons with professional teachers. Plein airs were very popular.
More than 20 Moscow Seasons venues hosted fun starts, sports and board games, training sessions, as well as dance lessons, Zumba, yoga and stretching classes. In addition, Muscovites took part in transformation games that helped them return from the world of gadgets to reality, understand their goals and find ways to achieve them.
Dancing to the gramophone and games from childhood
At the creative evenings, visitors listened to poems and songs, discussed the works of classics, legendary plays and books, watched performances by contemporary artists. Lectures and creative classes with representatives of the fashion industry, writers and theater community were held at the Moscow Seasons venues.
On Nikitsky Boulevard, an open-air exhibition and art market were held for 100 days. An exhibition of paintings by young artists from the Moscow Exhibition Halls association was organized for city residents and tourists, and master classes on painting techniques and handicrafts were held.
The guests of the festival remembered the “Summer in Moscow. Everyone out on the street!” theme nights with gramophone music at the vintage market on Chistye Prudy, as well as the championship of the childhood game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, in which residents of all Moscow districts took part.
More information about the activities of the Department of Trade and Services is available in the official telegram channel.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/144354073/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund completed the seventh review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Suriname, allowing for an immediate purchase equivalent to SDR 46.7 million (about USD 63 million) of which SDR 19.1 million or about USD 25.8 million would be for budget support.
The authorities’ commitment to maintaining prudent macroeconomic policies and implementing difficult reforms are yielding positive results: the economy is growing, inflation is coming down, international bond spreads are at record lows, and investor confidence is returning.
Building on the progress made thus far under the program, the authorities should entrench fiscal discipline, particularly in the run up to the elections while protecting the poor and vulnerable. Persevering with structural reforms to strengthen institutions and address governance weaknesses is also critical.
Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the seventh review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Suriname. The completion of the review allows the authorities to draw the equivalent of SDR 46.7 million (about USD 63 million), bringing total program disbursement to SDR 337.1 million (about USD 455 million). In completing the review, the Executive Board approved the authorities’ request for a waiver of non-observance of the end-June 2024 performance criteria on the central government primary balance based on the corrective actions the authorities have already taken.
Suriname is implementing an ambitious economic reform agenda to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, while laying the foundations for strong and more inclusive growth. The program includes policies to restore fiscal and debt sustainability, protect the poor and vulnerable, upgrade the monetary and exchange rate policy framework, address banking sector vulnerabilities, and advance the anti-corruption and governance reform agenda. These policies are supported by the EFF arrangement, which was approved by the Executive Board on December 22, 2021 (see Press Release No. 21/400), in an amount equivalent to SDR 472.8 million (366.8 percent of quota).
Following the Executive Board discussion on Suriname, Mr. Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director, and Acting Chair, issued the following statement:
“The authorities’ reforms under the EFF-supported program are being increasingly reflected in macroeconomic stability and improving investor confidence. The economy is growing, inflation is declining, international bond spreads have reached historic lows, and donor support is increasing.
“The near-term priority is to reinforce the planned fiscal consolidation and protect the vulnerable from the burden of the adjustment. Phasing out electricity subsidies and strengthening tax administration will help create fiscal space for higher social assistance and infrastructure spending. Fully implementing the recently finalized social assistance reform plan will make social programs more efficient and effective. Strengthening commitment controls and addressing weaknesses in cash management will contain public spending and prevent accumulation of supplier arrears.
“The debt restructuring process is nearing completion. Bilateral agreements with all official creditors and most commercial creditors have been achieved. Domestic debt arrears have been cleared.
“A tight monetary policy is supporting disinflation. Implementing the recently-finalized plan for central bank recapitalization will strengthen the central bank’s operational and financial autonomy. The authorities’ demonstrated commitment to a flexible, market-determined exchange rate is supporting international reserve accumulation. Timely implementation of recapitalization plans for commercial banks that do not meet regulatory capital requirements will bolster financial sector resilience.
“The authorities should persevere with their ambitious structural reform agenda to strengthen institutions, address governance weaknesses, build climate resilience, and improve data quality. This important work will continue to be supported by capacity development from the Fund and other development partners.”
OeNB | SUERF | Joint Vienna Institute | Yale Program on Financial Stability Conference on Building Resilience and Managing Financial Crises Vienna, Austria Tobias Adrian, IMF Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department
September 18, 2024
It is a great pleasure to speak to you today on a policy area at the forefront of our work at the IMF in helping our members prepare for, and deal with, financial instability. I will provide a snapshot of the progress that has been made and what remains to be done to deal effectively with bank runs and bank failures. I will also explain what we are doing at the IMF to help our membership make further progress in this critical area.
The bank failures in 2023 in the US and Switzerland presented the most significant test since the global financial crisis of the reforms taken collectively to end “too-big-to-fail.” It’s not often that policymakers get to field test plans for dealing with failing systemic banks, let alone one for a global systemically important bank (G-SIB).
In our view, the failures of Credit Suisse in Switzerland and SVB, Signature, and First Republic in the US, showed that while significant progress has been made, further progress is still required to deliver on the too-big-to-fail reform agenda and reduce the risk that taxpayers bail out shareholders and creditors when banks fail.
On the one hand, the actions the authorities took last year successfully avoided deeper financial turmoil. In addition, unlike many of the failures during the global financial crisis, significant losses were shared with the shareholders and some creditors of the failed banks. However, taxpayers were once again on the hook as extensive public support was used to protect more than just the insured depositors of failed banks.
In Switzerland, amid a massive creditor run, the Credit Suisse acquisition was backed by a government guarantee and liquidity facilities nearly equal to a quarter of Swiss economic output. While the public support was ultimately recovered, it entailed very significant contingent fiscal risk, and created a larger, more systemic bank. Indeed, UBS now has the largest ratio of assets to home country GDP of any individual G-SIB.
The use of standing resolution powers to transfer ownership of Credit Suisse, after bailing in shareholders and creditors, rather than relying on emergency legislation to effect a merger, would have fully wiped out the equity of Credit Suisse shareholders and limited the need for public support.
What lessons have we learnt?
Domestic and international authorities have published extensively on the lessons learnt and we share many of the conclusions. The key points I would highlight include:
The importance of intrusive supervision and early intervention. Credit Suisse depositors lost confidence after prolonged governance and risk management failures. The banks which failed in the US pursued risky business strategies and very rapid growth with inadequate risk management. Supervisors in both jurisdictions should have acted faster and been more assertive and conclusive. Policymakers need to empower supervisors with both the ability and the will to act.
Even relatively small banks can prove systemic. A lesson from many past crises, including the US bank failures in 2023, is that you can’t always judge in advance which banking problems will become systemic. In many countries, including the US and Switzerland, we think authorities should do more to be ready for crises affecting their medium-sized banks. Banking supervisory and resolution authorities should ensure that sufficient recovery and resolution planning takes place across the banking sector as a whole. This should include, on a proportional basis, banks that may not be systemic in all circumstances, but that could certainly be systemic in some.
Central banks should be prepared to provide extensive liquidity support during a crisis. Banks should be familiar with the central bank’s operations and facilities and be ready to use them at short notice. Who can access central bank lending is also an important question as liquidity risks have partially moved away from the usual central bank counterparties. While widening the counterparty list could help central banks intervene more broadly in a crisis, it runs the risk of rewarding regulatory arbitrage, giving raise to difficult trade-offs and requiring careful assessment. Central banks may well have to lend against illiquid collateral in a crisis. In that context, prepositioning would help to ensure operational preparedness especially to ascertain the legal claim on the collateral and to calibrate appropriate haircuts. An open question is whether the prepositioning should be voluntary or required, and how much counterparties should preposition if required. The benefits of enhanced lending “fire power” would have to be compared with the cost that prepositioning entails for the banks and the costs to the central bank, including risks to its balance sheet. If propositioning is directly linked with risk (e.g., a percentage of uninsured deposit), the impact on intermediation and the interaction with other prudential regulation would need to be carefully assessed.
Resolution plans and regimes need sufficient flexibility. We very much support the conclusion of the Financial Stability Board’s lessons learned report that resolution authorities need to “better operationalize a range of resolution options for different circumstances.” Every bank failure presents different challenges and resolution authorities need to be flexible enough to deal with the actual crisis that presents itself, balancing risks to financial stability with those to taxpayers. Authorities should make sure that they carefully balance rules versus discretion and detailed planning versus optionality in designing their resolution regimes. The rapid sale of Credit Suisse should prompt us to think about what would be needed for the successful sale in resolution of even the largest banking groups, at least in some circumstances.
Strikingly, every one of the cases I mentioned from Spring 2023, involved the transfer of the failing bank’s business lines to an acquiring bank, even where this had not been the focus of prior resolution planning. Two of the US cases also involved the intermediate step of transfer to bridge banks. So, we have timely and high-profile reminders that transfer powers should be a core part of the resolution toolkit and should be duly planned for and readily implementable, including at short notice.
Cooperation and effective implementation of resolution powers across borders is imperative. One notable feature of last year’s bank failures was the degree of international cooperation between regulators and resolution authorities in their handling of these cases. The Swiss authorities worked intensively with international counterparts to prepare for a resolution of Credit Suisse, which would have needed supportive actions from the supervisors and resolution authorities responsible for Credit Suisse’s main foreign operations, including in the US, UK, and EU. SVB’s UK subsidiary was resolved by the Bank of England, ultimately being sold to HSBC, and the FSB report highlights that the UK relied on the deep relationships built over the years with their US counterparts to help implement this. This cooperation seems to have begun earlier and worked a lot better than in similar cases during the global financial crisis, such as the failure of Lehman Brothers.
That experience highlights how global financial stability depends on authorities being able to work together across borders and to build in peacetime the routine contacts and good understanding ex ante of what each authority would be likely to do to make that possible. However, there was a wrinkle in this otherwise positive experience, as highlighted in the Financial Stability Board’s report on the bank failures, which relates to the importance of the US securities markets to most major foreign banks. Credit Suisse and most other major banks have debt securities issued in US dollars and/or under New York law, the holders of which may incur losses in a resolution. As a recent report of the Financial Stability Board highlighted, there remain significant open questions about how disclosure and other US securities legal requirements would be applied in the circumstances where securities issued in the US are envisaged to be converted in a short period, for example, over a resolution weekend. This is an important issue where further work is needed and this is being taken forward by the Financial Stability Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and others.
Finally, effective deposit insurance regimes are crucial. Banks typically fail when creditors lose confidence, even before their balance sheet reflects potential losses. Authorities in many countries need to strengthen deposit insurance regimes. New technology like 24/7 payments, mobile banking, and social media have accelerated deposit runs. Last year’s failures followed rapid deposit withdrawals, and deposit insurers and other authorities should be ready and able to act more quickly than many currently can.
IMF staff are working actively to support efforts in member countries to strengthen their supervision, resolution, liquidity assistance, and deposit insurance frameworks including through FSAPs and technical assistance. In the US, we have seen lessons learned reports and policy proposals from many of the US banking authorities, several of which pick up on issues and recommendations that were discussed in the IMF’s assessment of the US financial sector (“FSAP”) in 2020. Our next FSAPs for Switzerland and the Euro Area will be published next year, and as we start work on that we will be taking a close look at the authorities’ and the FSB’s findings and will likely reiterate many of our previous findings, including on strengthening deposit insurance regimes. We are also contributing to policy formulation at the international level, including a recently announced review of the international deposit insurance standard, and by earlier this year hosting with the Financial Stability Board a workshop for policymakers on the use of transfer powers in resolution.
The bottom line is that progress has been made, but there is still further to go in putting an end to too-big-to-fail. Most of the areas where further progress is needed are already well known; last year’s bank failures should provide the impetus for policymakers to cover the remaining ground.
Washington, DC: On September 9, 2024, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Bhutan[1].
During the past decade Bhutan adeptly balanced economic growth and poverty reduction with environmental sustainability. Sustained growth increased incomes, lifting living conditions and eliminating extreme monetary poverty by 2022. Bhutan has a long history of leading environmental conservation and climate change action and is committed to remaining carbon neutral. While the pandemic hindered economic development, strong policies limited its health impact.
Growth remained subdued during 2023. Large-scale emigration and policies to curb imports hindered a more robust recovery. Inflation accelerated in the second half of 2023, driven by wage increases in the public sector. The current account deficit (CAD) widened to around 30 percent of GDP driven by a large investment in crypto assets mining and the slow recovery in tourism. The fiscal deficit narrowed but remained high and non-hydro debt nearly doubled from pre-pandemic levels.
Boosted by hydro-power projects and grant-financed capital investment, growth is projected to accelerate over the medium term, averaging 6.3 percent of GDP, but to remain volatile. A gradual easing of inflation towards 4 percent is expected as the impact of wage increase subside. The CAD is expected to narrow, supported by higher electricity exports due to the commissioning of new hydropower plants, a continued recovery in tourism, and crypto assets exports. Securing diverse sources of growth that provide quality employment opportunities while preserving Bhutan’s commitment to environmental sustainability remains a key medium‑term challenge.
Uncertainty remains elevated with the balance of risks tilted to the downside. Domestic risks include slippages on implementation of the goods and services tax, delays in hydropower projects, and fiscal risks from the materialization of contingent liabilities in the financial sector. External risks include volatile commodity prices—particularly of fuel—and a global slowdown that could hinder non-hydro exports. Bhutan is vulnerable to climate change, given the importance of hydroelectricity and agriculture. Crypto mining entails significant upside and downside risks given their price volatility. Overall, the large external debt and persistent CADs—while supporting growth-enhancing investments and financed by development partners—are nonetheless a source of vulnerability. On the upside, the pursuit of stronger‑than-envisaged fiscal consolidation would accelerate the pace at which fiscal and external buffers are rebuilt.
Executive Directors agreed with the thrust of the staff appraisal. They commended Bhutan’s significant reduction in poverty and inequality during the last decade. Directors welcomed that growth is expected to accelerate over the medium term, boosted by a large hydroproject, higher capital spending, and the slowdown of emigration. Noting downside risks to the outlook, they underscored that tighter fiscal and monetary policies are needed to support the peg, reduce domestic and external imbalances, and rebuild buffers; while carefully managing potential risks stemming from crypto assets operations is also needed. Directors called for structural reforms to foster high-quality jobs in the private sector and diversify the economy, and commended the authorities’ commitment to ecological conservation and climate change action. They noted that continued support from the Fund’s capacity development is important.
Directors stressed that a gradual and sustained fiscal consolidation, based on revenue mobilization and spending restraint, is essential to rebuild buffers and preserve debt sustainability. They welcomed the authorities’ commitment to a timely implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and to undertaking additional tax and revenue administration measures to achieve the planned fiscal consolidation. Directors recommended strengthening public financial management, public investment management, and domestic debt management.
Directors underscored that monetary policy needs to be tightened in tandem with fiscal policy to ease balance-of-payment pressures and rebuild reserves. They stressed the need for a well-functioning domestic liquidity management framework to support the monetary policy operation function. Directors encouraged the authorities to phase out existing exchange restrictions once conditions allow. They noted the need to address remaining financial sector vulnerabilities, particularly given the expiration of COVID-related support measures. In this context, they welcomed the new guidelines and regulations to address credit quality and the progress in moving toward risk-based supervision. Directors recommended further enhancing the AML/CFT framework.
Directors called for structural reforms to diversify the economy and foster the creation of private sector jobs for high-skilled workers. They recommended improving the business environment, strengthening human capital accumulation, and improving active labor market policies. Directors welcomed efforts toward a new FDI policy, which relaxes some restrictions, including access to foreign currency, local employment requirements, and caps on foreign ownership. They also welcomed the improvements in data quality and called for further progress in this area.
Directors stressed the need to further strengthen public sector governance, including the Royal Monetary Authority’s (RMA) governance framework and independence as well as the transparency in the operations of state-owned enterprises. Noting the need to mitigate the potential risks stemming from crypto asset operations, they welcomed RMA’s efforts to strengthen its reserve management strategy and the forthcoming audited financial statements of crypto-mining operations.
[1] Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country’s economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.
[2] At the conclusion of the discussion, the Managing Director, as Chairman of the Board, summarizes the
views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country’s authorities. An explanation
Moscow’s transportation system is taking a leap forward with the launch of QR code payment via the Faster Payment’s System (FPS) at Metro and Moscow Central Circle (MCC) turnstiles. This innovative service, powered by the Bank of Russia, is also being implemented at 1,700 ticket vending machines across the city.
Moscow Metro QR code-ready.
The FPS is already integrated into all regular river transport turnstiles and ground transport validators. This is a convenient and modern service. Now, this innovative payment method is available at ticket booths and vending machines, – said Maksim Liksutov, Moscow’s Deputy Mayor for Transport and Industry.
To utilize QR code payment, passengers need to generate a QR code in the Moscow Metro app and hold their smartphone screen up to the scanner at the turnstile. The phone should be held 20-25 cm away from the scanner, at a 45-degree angle, with the active QR code facing the scanner. A green signal will appear on the turnstile when the payment is successful.
Additionally, passengers registered in the mobile app and loyalty program are eligible for a special promotion. They will receive cashback for each payment made through the FPS, credited to their account within one minute.
This new payment option offers Moscow residents a convenient, modern, and secure way to pay for their transportation needs.
The FPS was first launched in June 2023 in the ticket offices of all open stations of the Big Circle Line (BCL).
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
All utility systems, residential buildings, municipal facilities, equipment and machinery are ready for the autumn-winter period. The Moscow Government has considered the issue of the readiness of the capital’s housing stock and housing and communal facilities for the autumn-winter season of 2024/2025.
Preparations for the heating season for 74 thousand buildings, including 34.6 thousand residential buildings, 8.4 thousand social facilities and 30.8 thousand economic facilities, were carried out from May to August.
City services carried out preventive inspections and necessary repairs of engineering systems and equipment of boiler houses, central heating stations, large energy facilities, engineering networks of heat, gas, water and electricity supply.
The existing power reserves allow for a stable and uninterrupted supply of energy resources to consumers, as well as to meet the needs of promising city programs and infrastructure projects.
In case of possible failures and damage to utility networks, 1,093 emergency teams, 1,229 units of specialized equipment, as well as backup sources of electricity and heat supply have been prepared.
The required amount of road cleaning, engineering and other specialized equipment, as well as small mechanization tools, will be used to maintain urban areas and facilities. Snow will be disposed of at 51 stationary snow melting points.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
https://vvv.mos.ru/major/themes/11819050/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin warns consumers against offers on website esx-gruppe.com. According to information available to BaFin, financial and investment services are being provided on this website without the required authorisation.
Anyone conducting banking business or providing financial or investment services in Germany may do so only with authorisation from BaFin. However, some companies offer these services without the required authorisation. Information on whether companies have been authorised by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.
The information provided by BaFin is based on section 37 (4) of the German BankingAct (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG).
Please be aware:
BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.
Helmut Schlesinger turns 100 on 4 September, an anniversary that adds a wholly new numerical dimension to the honorary title of former Bundesbank President. Helmut Schlesinger is certainly no stranger to accolades celebrating his milestone birthdays. The “Börsen-Zeitung”, for one, marked his 80th birthday by writing that his name is synonymous with the pursuit of monetary stability, in a reference to the Bundesbank’s particular culture of stability, in which Mr Schlesinger’s thinking and attitudes resonate to this day. Mr Schlesinger’s presidency marked the pinnacle of over 41 years at the Bundesbank and in pursuit of a stable currency. He is rightly regarded as one of the most influential Bundesbankers of all time. The “Börsen-Zeitung” once dubbed him a home-grown product of the Bundesbank, a description that I like a lot. It wrote that Helmut Schlesinger embodied an exceptional period of monetary history, which came to an end as it were with the transition to the euro, characterised, on balance, by the continuity of success. During the 1950s and 1960s, in the early days of the Deutsche Mark, Mr Schlesinger followed an unusually steep career as a Bundesbank civil servant, culminating in him heading the Economics and Statistics Department. It was a time in which West Germany was experiencing the economic miracle. Under the fixed exchange rate regime, the Bundesbank led the money and credit sector out of planning and currency reform until it was finally opened and liberalised in 1958. Over the entire period, the Bundesbank succeeded in keeping the Deutsche Mark stable. In 1972, Mr Schlesinger was appointed to the Bundesbank’s Directorate and became its chief economist. The circumstances of the time required a complete realignment of monetary policy: the Bretton Woods exchange rate system teetered and finally collapsed in 1973. Western Europe’s exchange rates entered a new equilibrium – first in the European exchange rate arrangement, then in the European Monetary System (EMS). In economic terms, the 1970s were dominated by oil crises and rising unemployment. The combination of high inflation and a stagnant economy led to a new term being coined: stagflation. At that time, the Bundesbank was the first central bank to introduce monetary targeting. Mr Schlesinger played a key role in translating monetarist theory into a monetary policy strategy. He always saw the importance of explaining monetary policy, in personal contributions and in the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report, which he edited meticulously and with a sure sense of style. Many at the Bundesbank will remember the notes he made in pencil – he preferred an HB, or medium, hardness grade. As a monetary policymaker, however, some considered him a hard pencil lead, his argumentation consistent, but never simplistic. Time and again, he demonstrated the interaction between economic analysis, theoretical monetary concepts, political decision-making and historical change. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Deutsche Mark proved one of the world’s most stable currencies. Mr Schlesinger, who was made Vice-President in 1980, was regarded as the “conscience of stability policy”. US Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III is once said to have accused Schlesinger of seeing inflation under every pebble. This period saw the Deutsche Mark evolve into the anchor currency of the EMS. In 1991, Schlesinger was promoted from Vice-President to President – for a tumultuous 26 months. The Bundesbank used interest rate hikes in a bid to bring down the inflation caused by German reunification. Its stubborn high-interest-rate policy met with criticism within Germany and elsewhere. Many of the EMS partner countries likewise blamed the Bundesbank for the currency crises and rounds of depreciation of 1992‑93. When the United Kingdom was forced to withdraw from the EMS in 1992, UK politicians and the British media levelled serious accusations at Mr Schlesinger. Yet he was never a narrow-minded monetary policy nationalist; he followed a clear monetary compass. When Mr Schlesinger, a passionate hillwalker, was asked on a Himalayan tour about the importance of the oldest Buddhist mantra om mani padme hum, he is said to have answered: keep the money supply tight. Nowadays, the monetary targeting he introduced and that proved so successful back then has a different role to play. The structure of the economy has changed fundamentally. Mr Schlesinger himself always underscored that monetary policy strategy had to be adapted to structural change if it was to maintain monetary stability. Another of Mr Schlesinger’s insights also remains as true now as it was then: Stable money not only needs stability-oriented policies from both the government and the central bank. Business, employers and trade unions, and consumers also need to behave appropriately – what you might call a culture of stability. He established this culture of stability not just within the Bundesbank, but throughout west German society and later German society as a whole. It is a culture that is an obligation to all of his successors in the office of Bundesbank President. As the fifth in this line, I am honoured to offer my felicitations: heartfelt congratulations on your 100th birthday, Helmut Schlesinger!
Source: United Kingdom UK House of Lords (video statements)
Overhaul inquiries to make them more efficient and effective, says House of Lords committee in new report.
Public inquiries are set up to consider incidents of major public concern, such as the Grenfell Tower fire, the Post Office Horizon scandal and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Statutory Inquiries Committee has been considering the way these inquiries work. In its new report it found inefficiencies leading to delays and unnecessary costs. It calls on the government to conduct a major overhaul, including supporting an independent body responsible for following up on recommendations and ensuring that those accepted by the government are implemented.
Find out more and read the report in full https://ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/statutory-inquiries-lords-report/index.html?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=statutory-inquiries-report&utm_content=lords-youtube-channel
#HouseOfLords #PublicInquiries
Catch-up on House of Lords business:
Watch live events: https://parliamentlive.tv/Lords
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Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
The first project of the new season at the HSE ART GALLERY on Pionerka will continue the cycle of paired solo exhibitions of “teachers and students” of the HSE School of Design. This time, the main characters will be the head of the profile “Modern Painting” and its graduates – Vladimir Potapov and Sasha Podgorodskaya.
The format of double solo exhibitions allows, firstly, to present a cross-section of the most significant works of young authors created during their years of study, and secondly, to compare the perspectives of students and their teachers.
The title of Vladimir Potapov’s project, “The Duration of Decay,” refers to the artist’s personal exhibition, “The Moment of Decay,” in the Art Ru Agency space in 2011. For him, this was not only his first solo project in Moscow, but also his first attempt to go beyond the classical painting convention of “canvas and oil.” The exhibition allowed him to chart a path and showed prospects for finding practical answers to the question, “Is painting alive today?”
The various stages of this journey are reflected in the exhibition at HSE ART GALLERY. The works on display belong to different series created by Potapov from 2012 to 2022. This range allows us to cover the author’s wide range of tools and radically different methods that have developed over the course of a decade.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE
Headline: The OSCE Mission to BiH Donates Specialized Equipment to Police K9 Units across the country
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina has donated specialized equipment to K9 police units. (OSCE) Photo details
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) has donated today specialized equipment to K9 police units across the country. The donation includes essential work gear and is part of the Mission’s project on Addressing Security and Safety Risks of Illegal Possession, Misuse, and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and their Ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina. K9 units will receive muzzles, Kevlar suits, training sleeves, scent detection boxes, specialized SALW suitcases, alpinist equipment for dogs as well as a scent detection carousel, altogether worth approximately EUR 70,000
The equipment will increase the weapons and explosives detection capacities of various agencies across BiH, including the BiH Border Police, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), the Police of Brčko District BiH, the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior, the Federal Police Administration, as well as the Ministries of Interior of the Tuzla Canton, Una-Sana Canton, and Zenica-Doboj Canton.
“We are proud to be able to provide this gear to our partners across the country. It will significantly enhance the ability of police K9 units to detect concealed weapons, ammunition, and explosives,” said Ambassador Brian Aggeler, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH. “This donation would not have been possible if it were not for our international partners and the support that they have provided to the Project. Through our joint efforts we can help BiH address serious security threats and increases safety for all citizens,” he added.
Mlađen Božović, Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Security, expressed his satisfaction with the ongoing efforts to equip police agencies, enhancing their operational capabilities in the fight against illegal arms trade. He stated that: “These criminal activities present an increasing security challenge for all countries. Police agencies must adapt by continually strengthening their capacity to detect illegal weapons and disrupt smuggling routes. Preventing the illegal arms trade remains a top priority for the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our goal is to enhance security and prevent criminal activities related to weapons by curbing smuggling, both in the region and across the European Union member states.”
The OSCE Mission to BiH remains committed to support authorities at all levels in mitigating security risks posed by the illegal possession, misuse, and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition. By this commitment, the Mission contributes to creating a safer and more secure environment for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The multi-year project: Addressing Security and Safety Risks of Illegal Possession, Misuse, and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and their Ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by the Mission thanks to the generous support provided by Austria, the Czech Republic, the European Union, Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Norway, Slovakia, Türkiye, and the United States.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Agency, and Facts Global Energy
The United States is the world’s largest exporter of motor gasoline (finished gasoline plus gasoline blending components), supplying over 16% of total global exports. U.S. motor gasoline exports in 2023 averaged 900,000 barrels per day (b/d), equivalent to about 10% of domestic consumption and enough to fill up the tanks of over 1.5 million SUVs per day, assuming an average tank size of 24 gallons. Other large gasoline exporters, including Singapore and the Netherlands, have never exceeded 700,000 b/d in gasoline exports. China and India have both added significant refining capacity since 2010 and have also increased gasoline exports.
The United States was a net importer of motor gasoline for over a half century from 1961 to 2015. However, that trend changed during the past decade. The high volume of motor gasoline exports in recent years reflects longer trends in increasing U.S. exports of refined products in general, which set records in 2022 and 2023. The growth in U.S. refined product exports reflects several factors, including generally increasing refinery capacity from 2010 to 2023 and rising production from existing refineries through increased utilization. Much of the increase in refinery capacity has led to higher motor gasoline yields because of added light crude oil processing units that process increasing volumes of light tight oil produced by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Finally, although refinery capacity has grown, U.S. consumption of gasoline has not, making more gasoline available for export. Motor gasoline consumption in 2023 was flat compared with 2010 (and 0.4 million b/d less than its peak in 2018).
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
Motor gasoline accounts for the third-largest share of U.S. refined product exports, behind propane and distillate fuel oil. Unlike propane, which is primarily exported to Asia, the majority of U.S. motor gasoline exports (over 500,000 b/d) go to Mexico, with the remainder going primarily to Central American and South American countries. Over 90% of U.S. gasoline exports came from the U.S. Gulf Coast (PADD 3).
Acquisition of German HESA Solutions GmbH – MySchleppApp
Nextalia SGR and Alkemia Capital SGR lead the Series B round of the Italian scale-up in the digital motor assistance sector
MILAN, Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — hlpy, the leading Italian scale-up in full digital services for mobility and vehicle assistance, has successfully completed a capital raise of 18 millioneuros aimed at strengthening its growth process in major European markets and acquiring a leading operator in Germany in digital roadside assistance: HESASolutionsGmbH–MySchleppApp.
The operation was co-led by Nextalia SGR through the Nextalia Venture fund and the current partner Sinergia Venture Fund of Alkemia Capital SGR, with the participation of all major shareholders of hlpy, including TheTechshopSGR,CDPVentureCapital –fondoCorporatePartnersI,ServiceTech, and Simest. The Series B consists of 80% capital increase and 20% long-term financing provided by credit institutions.
Thanks to this financial injection, hlpy accelerates its international expansion plan and announces its first M&A operation in Europe with the acquisition of 100% of thecapital of HESA Solutions GmbH, commercially known as MySchleppApp, one of the leading digital roadside assistance companies in Germany and Austria, with annualgrowthratesexceeding130%.
The acquisition of MySchleppApp allows hlpy to consolidate its position as theprimary European operator of full-digital roadside assistance, offering its services not only in Italy, France, and Spain but also in Germany and Austria. These services include assistance, repair, and vehicle maintenance through the use of a software platform based on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
MySchleppApp delivers its services through a network of over 1,500 partners on the ground, with operations and a technology platform that integrate well with hlpy’s.
“This operation,” explained Valerio Chiaronzi, CEO of hlpy,“supported by leadinginvestors,strengthenshlpy’sleadershipintheEuropeanmarketfordigitalcarassistance.The capital increase reflects our shareholders’ confidence in hlpy’s growth path, whichrecorded a revenue increase of 157% in 2023 compared to 2022, and this year will alsogrowbytripledigits.Despiteexponentialorganicgrowth,wesawtheopportunitypresentedbyMySchleppAppastherightonetoseizetoenteranimportantmarketlike Germanyandclearlymarkourgrowthtrajectoryandfuture:tobecomealeaderinmobilityservices, redefining the rules and standards in roadside assistance, as well as in vehiclerepair and maintenance, without any geographical limits. We are excited to welcome theMySchleppAppteam,withwhomwehaveformedauniquesynergyfromdayone,thanksto shared corporate values, an operational model, and a technological approach alignedwithourvision.
“We also believe that the integration of our realities can bring concrete benefits to ourbusinesspartners–manyofwhomarecommonandcross-country–who,post-integration,willhaveaholisticviewoftheirvehiclesanddriversinmultiplecountries.”
“We are proud and excited to join the hlpy group,” added Santosh Satschdeva, CEOofHESASolutionsGmbH.“TheintegrationbetweenhlpyandMySchleppApprepresentsthe union of two of the most technologically advanced entities in the vehicle assistancesectorinEurope,withthecommongoalofprovidingourcommercialpartnersanddriverswith a superior customer experience, while also reducing operational costs and vehicledowntime. Together, we can expand a unique service model without any geographicalbarriers,acceleratingthegrowthofthenetworkandcustomerbase.”
hlpy was born in Milan in May 2020 with the aim of reinventing vehicle assistance. Thanks to its innovative digital platform, hlpy aims to create value for insurance companies, car manufacturers, rental companies, rescue operators, and, above all, to make the service more reliable and secure for end users.
HESA Solutions GmbH, with its brand MySchleppApp, was founded in Germany in 2016. The business focus is on roadside assistance and support in the event of vehicle breakdowns. MySchleppApp’s approximately 75 clients include automobile manufacturers, fleet managers, and leasing companies. Its strength lies in the fully digital management of rescue requests, with a highly efficient rescuer engagement process and short waiting times for customers.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — QuestionPro, a global leader in online survey and research services today announced the agenda and speaker lineup for its annual customer event, XDay 2024 North America. The event takes place Thursday, October 3, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time) at the Thompson Austin in Austin, Texas. The event features keynotes, in-depth panels, and one-to-one chats with industry leaders on a range of topics related to the future of insights, experience, and delight.
The day begins with opening remarks from Vivek Bhaskaran, QuestionPro’s founder and CEO, whose irreverent personality is combined with deep industry knowledge and vision. He will unveil exciting new products and feature updates across QuestionPro product lines and set the stage for a day of innovation and inspiration.
Bhaskaran is followed immediately by the morning keynote from Dr. Dipul Patadia, a visionary healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience of leadership, innovation and insights. As the Head of Health System Strategy and Innovation at Salesforce, he has been pivotal in aligning technology with the unique needs of health systems. His extensive background, including roles as Chief Medical Officer at hospitals within Ascension and Advocate Health, uniquely equips him with insights into the melding of data, and new trends.
Attendees will benefit from his leadership in national healthcare organizations and advisory roles with multiple healthcare startups. Expect to gain actionable insights into transforming your data, AI-driven empowerment, and leading with human centric data.
Following the morning keynotes will be a series of practitioner-led breakouts featurimg experts who have held senior roles at some of the most recognized brands in the world, including: Microsoft, Twitch, HubSpot, Cost Plus World Market and others. Panels, workshops and keynotes will cover workplace experience; AI in research and experience; deep dives on CX and many others. A full agenda is available via the web at: https://www.questionpro.com/xday/2024/
The afternoon keynote address will be delivered by Tim Sanders, currently the Vice President of Research Insights at G2. He brings a deep understanding of AI, digital transformation, and customer-centric strategies after serving as Vice President of Client Strategy at Upwork and many other prestigious institutions. As an Executive Fellow at Harvard’s Digital Data Design Institute, he drives AI adoption and data-driven business decisions. With a rich history at Yahoo and a bestselling author, Tim’s insights on leadership, digital transformation, and change management are not to be missed.
The event concludes with a rooftop dinner reception at Arriba Abajo, on top of the Thompson Hotel. Arriba Abajo beckons guests with its unique blend of cantina concept and elevated hospitality while captivating guests with its awe-inspiring rooftop patio and pool.
About QuestionPro: Founded in 2006, QuestionPro is a global provider of online survey and research services that help companies make better decisions through data. Our fully integrated online platform includes surveys, research & insights, customer experience (CX) and workforce/employee experience software. We additionally offer polling, journey mapping, employee 360s, and data visualization. Our clientele ranges from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies, who rely on us for insights about customers, employees, and the marketplace. With offices in the US, Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and India, we offer customers 24-7 access to highly trained support specialists and engineers. More information is available at www.questionpro.com.
This post originally appeared on theTransform with Google Cloud blog. It was first published April 12, 2024; last updated with new use cases September 24, 2024.
Since generative AI first captured the world’s attention, there’s been a vigorous discussion about what, exactly, the new technology is best used for. While we all enjoyed those early funny chats and witty limericks, we’ve quickly discovered that many of the biggest AI opportunities are clearly in the enterprise, government, and with exciting new companies.
When we first published this post during Google Cloud Next ‘24, we showcased 101 of the best use cases out of the hundreds featured across the event. Now, we’re adding another 84 to the list as customers across the globe continue to put generative AI to work.
[If you’ve visited this post in the past, you can find the newest use cases listed at the top of each section.]
In a matter of months, organizations have gone from AI helping answer questions, to AI making predictions, to generative AI agents. What makes AI agents unique is that they can take actions to achieve specific goals, whether that’s guiding a shopper to the perfect pair of shoes, helping an employee looking for the right health benefits, or supporting nursing staff with smoother patient hand-offs during shifts changes.
In our work with customers, we keep hearing that their teams are increasingly focused on improving productivity, automating processes, and modernizing the customer experience. These aims are now being achieved through the AI agents they’re developing in six key areas: customer service; employee empowerment; code creation; data analysis; cybersecurity; and creative ideation and production.
Hundreds of Google Cloud customers have now put AI agents and gen-AI solutions into production throughout their businesses and the world — with many seeing a tangible return on investment. They have come to rely on Google Cloud technologies that include our AI infrastructure, Gemini models, Vertex AI platform, Google Workspace, and Google Distributed Cloud.
Here’s a snapshot of how 185 of these industry leaders are putting AI to use today, creating real-world use cases that will transform tomorrow.
Customer agents
Similar to great sales and service people, customer agents are able to listen carefully, understand your needs, and recommend the right products and services. They work seamlessly across channels including the web, mobile, and point of sale, and can be integrated into product experiences with voice and video.
1.Alaska Airlines is developing natural language search, providing travelers with a conversational experience powered by AI that’s akin to interacting with a knowledgeable travel agent. This chatbot aims to streamline travel booking, enhance customer experience, and reinforce brand identity.
2. Bennie Health uses Vertex AI to power its innovative employee health benefits platform, providing actionable insights and streamlining data management in order to enhance efficiency and decision-making for employees and HR teams.
3. Beyond 12, a tech-enabled nonprofit focused on student empowerment, has developed an AI-powered college coach to offer scalable coaching to first-generation students that’s available over text, app, and the web.
4. CareerVillage is building an app called Coach to empower job seekers, especially underrepresented youth, in their career preparedness; already featuring 35 career development activities, the aim is to have more than 100 by next year.
5. Character.ai built its realistic conversational chat platform using the full stack of Google Cloud AI services, including for model training and daily operations, allowing it to manage terabytes of conversations each day without interruption.
6. Click Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics designed to treat disease. Its Clinical Operations team leverages Gemini for Google Workspace to transform complex operations data into actionable insights, so they can quickly pinpoint ways to streamline the patient experience in clinical trials.
7. Formula E can now summarize a two-hour long race commentary into a 2-minute podcast in any language, incorporating driver data and ongoing seasonal storylines.
8. General Motors’ OnStar has been augmented with new AI features, including a virtual assistant powered by Google Cloud’s conversational AI technologies that are better able to recognize the speaker’s intent.
9. Gojek, an Indonesia-based super app, launched “Dira by GoTo AI,” a Bahasa Indonesia AI-powered voice assistant integrated into their GoPay service, allowing customers to use voice command to eliminate typing and scrolling, and complete tasks like bill payments and money transfers with fewer steps.
10. GroupBy, an ecommerce service provider, developed an AI-first Search and Discovery Platform powered by Vertex AI Search for Retail. This solution is meticulously designed to optimize revenue, strengthen brand loyalty, and drive sales growth for B2C and B2B retailers.
11. Hotelplan Suisse built a chatbot trained on the business’s travel expertise to answer customer inquiries in real-time, and, following that success, it plans to use gen AI to create travel content.
12. Justicia Lab is developing an AI-powered assistant that will simplify legal processes for asylum seekers and immigrants; by uploading a picture from a legal letter or document, users can extract valuable information and then receive personalized guidance and next steps.
13. Mercado Libre has incorporated semantic search into its digital shopping platforms, using AI embeddings from the Vertex AI Agent Builder, which greatly improved product recommendations and discoverability for more than 200 million consumers across Latin America.
14. Motorola’s Moto AI leverages Gemini and Imagen to help smartphone users unlock new levels of productivity, creativity, and enjoyment with features such as conversation summaries, notification digests, image creation, and natural language search — all with reliable responses grounded in Google Search.
15. mRelief has built an SMS-accessible AI chatbot to simplify the application process for the SNAP food assistance program in the U.S., featuring easy-to-understand eligibility information and direct assistance within minutes rather than days.
16. Personal AI offers a “personal language model” using only the data of one individual or brand and allowing them to control and own how it is used. Built on your own data, facts, and opinions, it creates a responsive and interactive messaging experience that helps people be more productive and deepen relationships.
17. PODS worked with the advertising agency Tombras to create the “World’s Smartest Billboard” using Gemini — a campaign on its trucks that could adapt to each neighborhood in New York City, changing in real-time based on data. It hit all 299 neighborhoods in just 29 hours, creating more than 6,000 unique headlines.
18. Quora developed Poe, its own generative AI platform for people to discover and chat with AI-powered bots, including Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama, and Mistral’s Large 2 — many of which are hosted on Google Cloud’s purpose-built AI infrastructure.
19. ScottsMiracle-Gro built an AI agent on Vertex AI to provide tailored gardening advice and product recommendations for consumers.
20. Snap has deployed the multimodal capability of Gemini within its “My AI” chatbot and has since seen over 2.5-times as much engagement within Snapping to My AI in the United States.
21. Tabiya has built a conversational interface, Compass, that helps young people find employment opportunities; the platform asks questions and requests information, drawing out skills and experiences and matching those to appropriate roles.
22. Telecom Italia (TIM) implemented a Google-powered voice agent to address many customer calls, increasing efficiency by 20%.
23. UPS Capital launched DeliveryDefense Address Confidence, which uses machine learning and UPS data to provide a confidence score for shippers to help them determine the likelihood of a successful delivery.
24. Volkswagen of America built a virtual assistant in the myVW app, where drivers can explore their owners’ manuals and ask questions, such as, “How do I change a flat tire?” or “What does this digital cockpit indicator light mean?” Users can also use Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to see helpful information and context on indicator lights simply by pointing their smartphone cameras at the dashboard.
25. ADT is building a customer agent to help its millions of customers select, order, and set up their home security.
26. Alaska Airlines is developing a personalized travel search experience using advanced AI techniques, creating hyper-personalized recommendations that engage customers early and foster loyalty through AI-generated content.
27. Best Buy is using Gemini to launch a generative AI-powered virtual assistant this summer that can troubleshoot product issues, reschedule order deliveries, manage Geek Squad subscriptions, and more; in-store and digital customer-service associates are also gaining gen-AI tools to better serve customers anywhere they need help.
28. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is using Vertex AI to modernize transportation operations for a smoother, more efficient journey.
29. Etsy uses Vertex AI training to optimize their search recommendations and ads models, delivering better listing suggestions to buyers and helping sellers grow their businesses.
30. IHG Hotels & Resorts is building a generative AI-powered chatbot to help guests easily plan their next vacation directly in the IHG One Rewards mobile app.
31. ING Bank aims to offer a superior customer experience and has developed a gen-AI chatbot for workers to enhance self-service capabilities and improve answer quality on customer queries.
32. Magalu, one of Brazil’s largest retailers, has put customer service at the center of its AI strategy, including using Vertex AI to create “Lu’s Brain” to power an interactive conversational agent for Lu, Magalu’s popular brand persona (the 3D bot has more than 14 million followers between TikTok and Instagram).
33. Mercedes Benz will infuse e-commerce capabilities into its online storefront with a gen AI-powered smart sales assistant. Mercedes also plans to expand its use of Google Cloud AI in its call centers and is using Vertex AI and Gemini to personalize marketing campaigns.
34. Oppo/OnePlus is incorporating Gemini models and Google Cloud AI into their phones to deliver innovative customer experiences, including news and audio recording summaries, AI toolbox, and more.
35. Samsung is deploying Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 to their Galaxy S24 smartphones so users can take advantage of amazing features like text summarization, organization, and magical image editing.
36. The Minnesota Division of Driver and Vehicle Services helps non-English speakers get licenses and other services with two-way real-time translation.
37. Pepperdine University has students and faculty who speak many languages, and with Gemini in Google Meet, they can benefit from real-time translated captioning and notes.
38. Sutherland, a leading digital transformation company, is focused on bringing together human expertise and AI, including boosting its client-facing teams by automatically surfacing suggested responses and automating insights in real time.
39. Target uses Google Cloud to power AI solutions on the Target app and Target.com, including personalized Target Circle offers and Starbucks at Drive Up, their curbside pickup solution.
40. Tokopedia, an Indonesian ecommerce leader, is using Vertex AI to improve data quality, increasing unique products being sold by 5%.
41. US News saw a double-digit impact in key metrics like click-through rate, time spent on page, and traffic volume to its pages after implementing Vertex AI Search.
42-45. IntesaSanpaolo, MacquarieBank, and Scotiabank are exploring the potential of gen AI to transform the way we live, work, bank, and invest — particularly how the new technology can boost productivity and operational efficiency in banking.
Employee agents
Employee agents help workers be more productive and collaborate better together. These agents can streamline processes, manage repetitive tasks, answer employee questions, as well as edit and translate critical communications.
46. 2bots offers technology solutions, such as chatbots and virtual agents, built with Google Cloud’s AI solutions; these intelligent chatbots and content generation tools are transforming the way companies interact with their customers.
47. Augment is building an AI personal assistant that offers enhanced note-taking and collects information across your apps, including calendar, email, texts, and social media, so users can more quickly and easily find personal information and keep their lives organized.
48. Bayes Impact builds AI products to support nonprofits, and its flagship product, CaseAI, is a digital case manager that integrates with an NGO’s current system to add smart features to draft action plans tailored to a beneficiary’s unique history; caseworkers have saved 25 hours of work per week on average.
49. Bell Canada has built customizable contact center solutions for its business customers that offer AI-powered agents to address callers, and Agent Assist, which listens when a human agent is on, offering suggestions and sentiment analysis. AI has contributed $20 million in savings across customer operations.
50. Best Buy can generate conversation summaries in real time using Contact Center AI, allowing live agents to give their full attention to understanding and supporting customers, resulting in a 30-to-90-second reduction in average call time and after-call work. Both customers and agents have cited improved satisfaction.
51. Camanchaca, a Chilean seafood company, took only six weeks to develop Elon, a virtual assistant that aims to provide more efficient customer service through digital channels, enhancing Camanchaca’s customer interactions.
52. Certify OS is automating credentialing, licensing, and monitoring of medical providers for healthcare networks, relieving the burden of time-consuming and often siloed information.
53. Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs widely uses Gemini for Google Workspace, estimating that employees are saving an average five hours per week just with AI capabilities in Gmail. Gemini is also streamlining time-consuming, manual processes through uses like AI-generated transcriptions and auto-formatting of pharmaceutical lab results or FDA compliance documentation.
54. Dun & Bradstreet built an email-generation tool with Gemini that helps sellers create tailored, personalized communications to prospects and customers for its research services. The company also developed intelligent search capabilities to help users with complex queries like, “Find me all the companies in this area with a high ESG rating.”
55. England’s Football Association is training Vertex AI on the FA’s historical and current scouting reports so they can be transformed into concise summaries, helping national teams discover future talent.
56. Fireflies.ai can transcribe, summarize, and analyze meetings, recordings, and other voice conversations to save time and improve collaboration and information sharing across teams.
57. Fluna, a Pan-African digital services company, has automated the analysis and drafting of legal agreements using Vertex AI, Document AI, and Gemini 1.5 Pro, achieving an accuracy of 92% in data extraction while ensuring security and reliability for sensitive information.
58. Hemominas, Brazil’s largest blood bank, partnered with Xertica to develop an omnichannel chatbot for donor search and scheduling, streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency. The AI solution has the potential to save half-a-million lives annually by attracting more donors and optimizing blood supply management.
59. Hiscox used BigQuery and Vertex AI to create the first AI-enhanced lead underwriting model for insurers, automating and accelerating the quoting for complex risks from three days down to a few minutes.
60. LiveX AI delivers AI Agents that swiftly enhance product education, boost customer conversion, reduce churn, and provide personalized customer support, with the goal of offering everyone a seamless VIP experience across their customer journey.
61. Opportunity@Work is applying gen AI to scale a suite of software tools and APIs that help employers identify “STAR” job candidates — “skilled through alternative routes” such as community college, military service, and on-the-job experience — helping fill roles in a tight market and expand opportunities.
62. QuantumMetric has introduced Felix AI, powered by Gemini Pro, to simplify digital analytics and decision making. Felix AI automatically summarizes a user’s web or mobile session and consolidates the moments that matter most into short, readable summaries for customer service workers.
63. Randstad, a large HR services and talent provider, is using Gemini for Workspace across its organization to transform its work culture, leading to a more culturally diverse and inclusive workplace that’s seen a double-digit reduction in sick days.
64. Sprinklr built Sprinklr AI+ into its unified customer experience management platform, giving brands gen-AI capabilities for customer service, insights, social media management, and marketing that has enterprise-grade governance, security, and data privacy built-in.
65. Thomson Reuters added Gemini Pro to its suite of large language models approved for employee use; with its 2-million-token context window, Gemini makes some tasks as much as 10-times faster to process and can process entire documents in context.
66. Warner Bros. Discovery built an AI captioning tool with Vertex AI and saw a 50% reduction in overall costs, and an 80% reduction in the time it takes to manually caption a file without the use of machine learning.
67. The U.S. Air Force built a new proof-of-concept portal for searching, browsing, and reading e-published PDFs — all within a 90-day deadline that leveraged the prebuilt tools and speed of Vertex AI Search and Conversation.
68. Avery Dennison empowered their employees with generative AI to enable secure, flexible, and borderless collaboration for enhanced productivity to drive growth.
69. Bank of New York Mellon built a virtual assistant to help employees find relevant information and answers to their questions.
70. Bayer is building a radiology platform that will assist radiologists with data analysis, intelligent search, and to create documents that meet healthcare requirements needed for regulatory approval. The bioscience company is also harnessing BigQuery and Vertex AI to develop additional digital medical solutions and drugs more efficiently.
71. Bristol Myers Squibb is transforming its document processes for clinical trials using Vertex AI and Google Workspace. Now, documentation that took scientists weeks now gets to a first draft in minutes.
72. BenchSci develops generative AI solutions empowering scientists to understand complex connections in biological research, saving them time and financial resources and ultimately bringing new medicine to patients faster.
73. Cintas is using Vertex AI Search to develop an internal knowledge center for customer service and sales teams to easily find key information.
74. Covered California, the state’s healthcare marketplace, is using Document AI to help improve the consumer and employee experience by automating parts of the documentation and verification process when residents apply for coverage.
75. Dasa, the largest medical diagnostics company in Brazil, is helping physicians detect relevant findings in test results more quickly.
76. DaVita leverages DocAI and Healthcare NLP to transform kidney care, including analyzing medical records, uncovering critical patient insights, and reducing errors. AI enables physicians to focus on personalized care, resulting in significant improvements in healthcare delivery.
77. Discover Financial helps their 10,000 contact center representatives to search and synthesize information across detailed policies and procedures during calls.
78. HCA Healthcare is testing Cati, a virtual AI caregiver assistant that helps to ensure continuity of care when one caregiver shift ends and another begins. They are also using gen AI to improve workflows on time-consuming tasks, such as clinical documentation, so physicians and nurses can focus more on patient care.
79. The Home Depot has built an application called Sidekick, which helps store associates manage inventory and keep shelves stocked; notably, vision models help associates prioritize which actions to take.
80. Los Angeles Rams are utilizing AI across the board from content analysis to player scouting.
81. McDonald’s will leverage data, AI, and edge technologies across its thousands of restaurants to implement innovation faster and to enhance employee and customer experiences.
82. Pennymac, a leading US-based national mortgage lender, is using Gemini across several teams including HR, where Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides and Gmail is helping them accelerate recruiting, hiring, and new employee onboarding.
83. Robert Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, revolutionizes marketing through gen AI-powered solutions, streamlining processes, optimizing resource allocation, and maximizing efficiency across 100+ decentralized departments.
84. Symphony, the communications platform for the financial services industry, uses Vertex AI to help finance and trading teams collaborate across multiple asset classes.
85. Uber is using AI agents to help employees be more productive, save time, and be even more effective at work. For customer service representatives, they’ve launched new tools that summarize communications with users and can even surface context from previous interactions, so front-line staff can be more helpful and effective.
86. The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs is using AI at the edge to improve cancer detection for service members and veterans. The Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM) is deployed at remote military treatment facilities around the world. The prototype device is helping pathologists find cancer faster and with better accuracy.
87. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has improved the quality and efficiency of their patent and trademark examination process by implementing AI-driven technologies.
88. Verizon is using generative AI to help teams in network operations and customer experience get the answers they need faster.
89. Victoria’s Secret is testing AI-powered agents to help their in-store associates find information about product availability, inventory, and fitting and sizing tips, so they can better tailor recommendations to customers.
90. Vodafone uses Vertex AI to search and understand specific commercial terms and conditions across more than 10,000 contracts with more than 800 communications operators
91. WellSky is integrating Google Cloud’s healthcare and Vertex AI capabilities to reduce the time spent completing documentation outside work hours.
92. Woolworths, the leading retailer in Australia, boosts employees’ confidence in communications with “Help me write” across Google Workspace products for more than 10,000 administrative employees. It’s also using Gemini to create next-generation promotions, as well as for quickly assisting customer service reps in summarizing all previous customer interactions in real time.
93-97. Box, Typeface, Glean, CitiBank, and Securiti AI discuss developing AI-powered apps across the enterprise, with measurable returns on investment for marketing, financial services, and HR use cases.
98-99. Highmark Health and Freenome join Bristol Myers Squibb to explore how AI can improve efficiency and innovation across care delivery, drug discovery, clinical trial planning, and bringing medicines to market.
Code agents
Code agents are helping developers and product teams to design, create, and operate applications faster and better, and to ramp up on new languages and code bases. Many organizations are already seeing double-digit gains in productivity, leading to faster deployment and cleaner, clearer code.
100. Labelbox has built a fully managed AI model evaluation solution directly integrated into the Vertex AI platform, allowing Google Cloud users to seamlessly launch human evaluation jobs and set specific criteria for evaluation, such as question-answering and summarization; this eases and accelerates the ability to deploy human-in-the-loop AI systems with higher levels of trust and authority.
101. Leroy Merlin, a global home improvement retailer, developed its Pull Request Analyzer using Vertex AI. This generative AI solution summarizes code changes, helping developers understand projects faster and improve code review efficiency.
102. Linear, a product development platform, built Similar Issues, a feature that uses AI to detect and prevent duplicate or overlapping tickets and ensures cleaner and more accurate data representation.
103. Magic is building a developer platform with a 100-million-token context window, so organizations can upload extremely large code bases and more easily query and build on them using gen AI assistance.
104. Pinecone provides infrastructure for developers to build accurate, secure, and scalable AI applications, allowing companies to easily ground gen AI apps in their proprietary data for use in AI search, retrieval-augmented generation, coding agents, and more.
105. Regnology built its Ticket-to-Code Writer tool with Gemini 1.5 Pro to automate the conversion of bug tickets into actionable code, significantly streamlining the software development process.
106. Weights & Biases, a creator of AI tools for developers, created W&B Weave, a lightweight toolkit to track, evaluate, and debug gen AI applications built with Gemini, so teams can confidently go from demo to production.
107. Capgemini has been using Code Assist to improve software engineering productivity, quality, security, and developer experience, with early results showing workload gains for coding and more stable code quality.
108. Commerzbank is enhancing developer efficiency through Code Assist’s robust security and compliance features.
109. Quantiphi saw developer productivity gains of more than 30% during their Code Assist pilot.
110. Replit developers will get access to Google Cloud infrastructure, services, and foundation models via Ghostwriter, Replit’s software development AI, while Google Cloud and Workspace developers will get access to Replit’s collaborative code editing platform.
111. Seattle Children’s hospital is using AI to boost data engineering productivity and accelerate development.
112. Turing is customizing Gemini Code Assist on their private codebase, empowering their developers with highly personalized and contextually relevant coding suggestions that have increased productivity around 30 percent and made day-to-day coding more enjoyable.
113. Wayfair piloted Code Assist, and those developers with the code agent were able to set up their environments 55 percent faster than before, there was a 48 percent increase in code performance during unit testing, and 60 percent of developers reported that they were able to focus on more satisfying work.
Data agents
Data agents are like having knowledgeable data analysts and researchers at your fingertips. They can help answer questions about internal and external sources, synthesize research, develop new models — and, best of all, help find the questions we haven’t even thought to ask yet, and then help get the answers.
114. 180Seguros is powering its data management platform for employees with Google Cloud AI and BigQuery to improve operational metric tracking, allowing for 3X faster query times.
115. Addy AI is helping mortgage lenders and banks automate their lending processes with custom AI models trained on Vertex AI. For example, the platform can extract loan opportunity details from lengthy email threads with numerous attachments.
116. Bayer Crop Science has developed Climate FieldView, a comprehensive agricultural platform with more than 250 layers of data and billions of data points; AI-powered recommendations allow farmers to design and monitor their fields for greater yields and efficient fertilization, with the added benefit of reduced carbon emissions.
117. CME Group is building a first-of-its-kind cloud-based commodities trading platform with AI tools built-in, offering CME’s trading customers access to deeper insights and smarter trades as well as rapid experimentation on new trading strategies that won’t interrupt existing trade flows.
118. Digits is developing next-gen accounting software for startups and small businesses; using AI-driven bookkeeping, expense management, and financial analysis, Digits enables business owners to achieve financial clarity and focus on growth.
119. Elanco, a leader in animal health, has implemented a gen AI framework supporting critical business processes, such as Pharmacovigilance, Customer Orders, and Clinical Insights. The framework, powered by Vertex AI and Gemini, has resulted in an estimated ROI of $1.9 million since launching last year.
120. Full Fact, a UK-based nonprofit working in 18 countries to combat misinformation, is now using gen AI to actively monitor stories so its 30 fact-checking partner organizations can focus on addressing specific claims and harmful information.
121. Fullstory, a digital behavioral data platform, is building the ability to analyze and summarize user behavior on a site to create more informed and enriching chatbot experiences; responses are more relevant and accurate, ultimately improving virtual agent performance and customer experience
122. GamudaBerhad, a Malaysian infrastructure and property management company, has integrated a Gemini-powered conversational agent into its cloud-based Tunnel Insight platform, providing faster information and insights during construction projects.
123. IntelligenciaAI is using AI models to research novel new drugs, relying on Google Cloud’s AI-optimized infrastructure to deliver scalable research that is accurate and transparent to meet the stringent needs of medicine.
124. IPRally built a custom machine-learning platform that uses natural language processing on the text of more than 120 million global patent documents, creating an accurate, easily searchable database that adds more than 200,000 new sources a week.
125. Ipsos built a data analysis tool for its teams of market researchers, eliminating the need for time-consuming requests to data analysts, which is powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro and Flash models as well as Grounding with Google Search to enhance real-world accuracy from contemporaneous Search information.
126. Materiom, a startup researching zero-waste, bio-based alternatives to fossil-fuel-made products like plastics, is creating a gen AI tool that enables entrepreneurs to develop novel compostable materials with broad applications; AI offers faster research and information gathering to speed up the development process.
127. Mendel has built a clinical AI system designed to break down the longstanding silos in medical data, boosting accuracy, accessibility, and ultimately patient health outcomes.
128. NeuroPace, a medical device company, built a solution to quickly identify effective epilepsy treatment options best suited to different patients; by analyzing brainwave patterns, it can find similar patients and apply successful therapies, streamlining personalized care.
129. NotCo, a Chilean food tech company, partnered with Eleven Solutions to develop a conversational AI chatbot powered by Gemini; the chatbot has revolutionized data access, allowing employees to instantly query their SAP system and gain real-time insights for faster, data-driven decision-making.
130. SURA Investments, the largest asset manager in Latin America, developed an AI-based analysis model for employees that allows them to better understand customer needs and improve customer experience and satisfaction.
131. AI21 Labs offers a BigQuery integration called Contextual Answers that allows users to query data conversationally and get high-quality answers quickly.
132. Anthropic has partnered with Google Cloud to offer its family of Claude 3 models on Vertex AI — providing organizations with more model options for intelligence, speed, cost-efficiency, and vision for enterprise use cases.
133. The Asteroid Institute is using AI to discover hidden asteroids in existing astronomical data. This is a major focus for astronomers researching the evolution of the Solar System, investors and businesses hoping to fly missions to asteroids, and for all of us who want to prevent future large asteroid impacts on Earth.
134. Contextual is working with Google Cloud to offer enterprises fully customizable, trustworthy, privacy-aware AI grounded in internal knowledge bases.
135. Cox 2M, the commercial IoT division of Cox Communications, is able to make smarter, faster business decisions using AI-powered analytics.
136. Essential AI, a developer of enterprise AI solutions, is using Google Cloud’s AI-optimized TPU v5p accelerator chips to train its own AI models.
137. Generali Italia, Italy’s largest insurance provider, used Vertex AI to build a model evaluation pipeline that helps ML teams quickly evaluate performance and deploy models.
138. Globo, one of Brazil’s largest media networks, is using Service Extensions and Media CDN to fight piracy during live events by blocking pirated streams in real time.
139. Golden State Warriors are using AI to improve the fan experience content in their Chase Center app.
140. Hugging Face is collaborating with Google across open science, open source, cloud, and hardware to enable companies to build their own AI with the latest open models from Hugging Face and Google Cloud hardware and software.
141. Kakao Brain, part of Korean technology company Kakao Group, has built a large-scale AI language model that is the largest Korean language-specific LLM in the market, with 66 billion parameters. They’ve also developed a text-to-image generator called Karlo.
142. Mayo Clinic has given thousands of its scientific researchers access to 50 petabytes worth of clinical data through Vertex AI search, accelerating information retrieval across multiple languages.
143. McLaren Racing is using Google AI to get up-to-the-millisecond insights during races and training to gain a competitive edge.
144. Mercado Libre is testing BigQuery and Looker to optimize capacity planning and reservations with delivery carriers and airlines to fulfill shipments faster.
145. Mistral AI will use Google Cloud’s AI-optimized infrastructure, to further test, build, and scale up its LLMs, all while benefiting from Google Cloud’s security and privacy standards.
146. MSCI uses machine learning with Vertex AI, BigQuery and Cloud Run to enrich its datasets to help our clients gain insight into around 1 million asset locations to help manage climate-related risks.
147. NewsCorp is using Vertex AI to help search data across 30,000 sources and 2.5 billion news articles updated daily.
148. Orange operates in 26 countries where local data must be kept in each country. They are using AI on Google Distributed Cloud to improve network performance and deliver super-responsive translation capabilities.
149. Spotify leveraged Dataflow for large-scale generation of ML podcast previews, and they plan to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with data engineering and data science to build better experiences for their customers and creators.
150. UPS is building a digital twin of its entire distribution network, so both workers and customers can see where their packages are at any time.
151. Workday is using natural language processing in Vertex Search and Conversation to make data insights more accessible for technical and non-technical users alike.
152. Woven — Toyota‘s investment in the future of mobility — is partnering with Google to leverage vast amounts of data and AI to enable autonomous driving, supported by thousands of ML workloads on Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer. This has resulted in resulting in 50% total-cost-of-ownership savings to support automated driving.
152-153. Broward County, Florida, and Southern California Edison are using geospatial capabilities and AI to improve infrastructure planning and monitoring, generate new insights, and create regional resilience for communities facing climate challenges today and tomorrow.
154-155. Kinaxis and Dematic are building data-driven supply chains to address logistics use cases including scenario modeling, planning, operations management, and automation.
156-157. NOAA and USAID are among the U.S. government agencies using Google Cloud AI to unlock critical data insights to streamline operations and improve mission outcomes — all with an emphasis on responsible AI.
Security agents
Security agents assist security operations by radically increasing the speed of investigations, automating monitoring and response for greater vigilance and compliance controls. They can also help guard data and models from cyberattacks, such as malicious prompt injection.
158. Apex Fintech is using Gemini in Security to accelerate the writing of complex threat detections from hours to a matter of seconds.
159. Exabeam has built a generative AI copilot for security analysts into its New-Scale Security Operations Platform.
160. Fiserv, a developer of financial services technology, can now summarize threats, find answers, and detect, validate, and respond to security events faster with the Gemini in Security Operations platform.
161. NetRise developed Trace to provide software supply chain security by introducing AI-powered intent-driven searches; these allow users to search their assets based on the underlying motives or purposes behind the code and configurations, rather than solely relying on signature-based methods.
162. Palo Alto Networks is using Gemini to create a grounded AI assistant for 24/7 security platform support in order to improve agent efficiency and response time; grounding the assistant in organizational data and security protocols has greatly improved the accuracy of responses.
163. BBVA uses AI in Google SecOps to detect, investigate, and respond to security threats with more accuracy, speed, and scale. The platform now surfaces critical security data in seconds, when it previously took minutes or even hours, and delivers highly automated responses.
164. Behavox is using Google Cloud technology and LLMs to provide industry leading regulatory compliance and front office solutions for financial institutions globally.
165. Charles Schwab has integrated their own intelligence into the AI-powered Google SecOps, so analysts can better prioritize work and respond to threats.
166. Fiserv’s security operations engineers create detections and playbooks with much less effort, while analysts get answers more quickly.
167. Grupo Boticário, one of the largest beauty retail and cosmetics companies in Brazil, employs real-time security models to prevent fraud and to detect and respond to issues.
168. Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XSIAM, the AI-driven security operations platform, is built on more than a decade of expertise in machine-learning models and the most comprehensive, rich, and diverse data store in the industry. Backed by Google’s advanced cloud infrastructure and advanced AI services, including BigQuery and Gemini models, the combination delivers global scale and near real-time protection across all cybersecurity offerings.
169. Pfizer can now aggregate cybersecurity data sources, cutting analysis times from days to seconds.
Creative agents
Creative agents can expand your organization with the best design and production skills, working across images, slides, and exploring concepts with workers. Many organizations are building agents for their marketing teams, audio and video production teams, and all the creative people that can use a hand. With creative agents, anyone can become a designer, artist, or producer.
170. AdoreMe marketers write differentiated product descriptions in one hour, a tedious task which used to take 30-40 hours a month thanks to Gemini for Google Workspace.
171. Globo, the largest media group in Latin America, is using Google Cloud’s AI to hyper-personalize content for its streaming users, and create a better experience for spectators.
172. Higgsfield.ai built a number of text-to-video apps for consumers, including Diffuse 2.0, which can combine users photos, videos, and texts through AI models to create more realistic avatars.
173. Jasper trains its suite of creativity-, writing-, and marketing-focused AI models on Google’s AI infrastructure, delivering on-brand, data-optimized assets faster and at scale to teams large and small.
174. Puma is using Imagen to customize product photos on its website, saving time and ensuring they are locally relevant across markets; PUMA India has already seen a 10% increase in click through rate.
175. RadissonHotel Group personalized its advertising at scale in collaboration with Accenture and using Vertex AI and Gemini models, training them on extensive datasets stored in BigQuery; ad teams saw productivity rise around 50% while revenue increased from AI-powered campaigns by more than 20%
176. SquareEnix is using customer data to develop AI-optimized marketing assets to keep its gamers engaged, sharing personalized emails suited to each player’s preferences, leading to a 20% increase in email opens and a 10% increased retention rate.
177. Urmobo, a mobile-device management platform, created a virtual agent, Odin, that significantly improved user experience and reduced support tickets by enabling clients to interact with the platform using natural language.
178. The World Bank is developing a tool to extract key information from research literature on the causal impact of development interventions, with the ultimate goal to empower decision-makers to allocate the $220B in annual aid and trillions in annual impact investing more effectively.
179. Belk ECommerce is using generative AI to craft better product descriptions, a necessary yet time-consuming task for digital retails that has often been done manually.
180. Canva is using Vertex AI to power its Magic Design for Video, helping users skip tedious editing steps while creating shareable and engaging videos in a matter of seconds.
181. Carrefour used Vertex AI to deploy Carrefour Marketing Studio in just five weeks — an innovative solution to streamline the creation of dynamic campaigns across various social networks. In just a few clicks, marketers can build ultra-personalized campaigns to deliver customers advertising that they care about.
182. Major League Baseball continues to innovate its Statcast platform, so teams, broadcasters, and fans have access to live in-game insights.
183. Paramount currently relies on manual processes to create the essential metadata and video summaries used across its Paramount+ platform for showcasing content and creating personalized experiences for viewers. VertexAI Text Bison is now helping to streamline this process.
184. Procter & Gamble used Imagen to develop an internal gen AI platform to accelerate the creation of photo-realistic images and creative assets, giving marketing teams more time to focus on high-level planning and delivering superior experiences for its consumers.
185. WPP will integrate Google Cloud’s gen AI capabilities into its intelligent marketing operating system, called WPP Open, which empowers its people and clients to deliver new levels of personalization, creativity, and efficiency. This includes the use of Gemini 1.5 Pro models to supercharge both the accuracy and speed of content performance predictions.
To find even more customers using our AI tools to build agents and solutions for their most important enterprise projects, visit the Google Cloud customer hub.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Orlaith Darling, PhD Candidate, Contemporary English Literature and Critical Theory, Trinity College Dublin
On the level of theme, the Irish writer Sally Rooney is firmly in her wheelhouse in her new novel Intermezzo. We find Peter and Ivan Koubek having just lost their father and trying to forge a life through and past this bereavement by way of intimate relationships.
Peter, a barrister in his early 30s, is embroiled in a semi-secret situation-ship with a much younger college student and former sex worker, Naomi. He balances this with his longstanding and largely chaste relationship with a former long-term girlfriend, Sylvia.
Ivan, a decade younger and aeons less suave than his older brother, has meanwhile taken up with Margaret, a 36-year-old woman he meets while playing chess in Leitrim, a county in the north-west of Ireland.
So far, so familiar. Anyone seeking plot-driven fiction without a romantic bent from Rooney should know better by now.
The minor stylistic differences between Intermezzo and her other books reviewers have noted are all moderated by the manifest continuities in Rooney’s authorly concerns.
We read Rooney because she is that unusual writer whose characters raise serious and abiding questions about the particular historical, social and economic moments they inhabit. Her characters manage to do so without ever feeling like anything less than fully developed, psychologically complex individuals.
In Conversations with Friends and Normal People, the faltering of young relationships and first love tested the characters’ ideologies against their behaviours, their politics against their morals. In Beautiful World, emails allowed Alice and Eileen the space to describe what it feels like to live in a moment of historical crisis even as life (in the alternating chapters) carries on unchanged.
This very Rooney-esque tension is, in Intermezzo, parlayed as a struggle between brothers, where Peter castigates various beliefs of Ivan’s and Ivan accuses Peter of privileging principle over conduct.
Ivan thinks that “Peter is the kind of person who goes along the surface of life very smoothly.” This, for the record, is not at all reflected in Peter’s inner monologue, which proceeds via truncated sentence fragments and is peppered by wishes that he was dead.
Life, for Peter, seems to be closing in, and is all the more claustrophobic given the seemingly total clarity with which he remembers “When life was perfect.” He at once envies and feels a great depth of compassion for those whose lives are constantly buffeted by the material forces from which his well-paying job shields him.
Ivan has, at various times, felt himself existing outside of life. He can explain eloquently his opinions on the late capitalist economy (fake), he has a physics degree, a formidable reputation in competitive chess and a history of subscribing to questionable YouTube channels of a distinctly incel flavour. Yet, in Ivan, we see Rooney’s great optimism for people and how they might be redeemed.
Ivan frequently confronts the difficulty of paying rent, of living in a world where a person cannot do something as prosaic as have a dog. But these problems are tempered by a feeling that the world is nevertheless beginning to open up for him. As he muses, it is surely better to face down these “never-ending struggle[s]” with optimism than be worn down by them. When he meets Margaret, he feels increasingly assured that the world does “make room for goodness and decency.”
This newest book is perhaps Rooney’s most mature reflection on how relationships operate as exercises in optimism, both in each other and in the world itself. Intermezzo is remarkable and bracing on the exchange of promises that happens in relationships, on the currency of hope they run on, and mutual, voluntary emotional debts they create. These debts, of course, are not always repaid, and that is part of the point: the stakes of love are high, and we run the risk of defaulting and being defaulted on.
And yet, for Rooney, this risk is always worth taking. It must be, because it is all there is. Rooney’s is a world in which relationships sustain us and in which small daily miracles make life seem more bearable than is proportionate. This might be as simple as the unthinking care enacted by such an everyday chore as “making up [a] packed lunch, Nutella sandwiches, an apple wrapped in kitchen roll” for someone else, or the unrationed totality of love a dog shows its owner after an absence.
As with each of her novels before this, Rooney’s power as a writer is to focus attention on the crazy hope we place in other people’s ability to sustain us and the anxiety we feel about what we could possibly offer in return. And, against all suggestions of departure, this is the main point of continuity across Rooney’s oeuvre.
Rooney appears to share the views of many of her characters. Like Frances in Conversations with Friends who says “[y]ou live through certain things before you understand them. You can’t always take the analytical position”. Like Marianne in Normal People who believes that “people can really change one another”. Like Eileen in Beautiful World who hopes that “the most ordinary thing about human beings is not violence or greed but love and care.” And, like Ivan in Intermezzo, she is an optimist.
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Orlaith Darling receives funding from the Irish Research Council.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Johanna L.A. Paijmans, Postdoctoral research fellow in Zoology, University of Cambridge
Many large mammals have lost genetic diversity, often thanks to the actions of people shrinking their populations. The implications can be severe because without genetic diversity, a population does not have a “genetic database” to fall back on to adapt to environmental change.
The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is no stranger to this reduction in diversity. Human activity has driven populations to dangerously low numbers, leaving them with a shrinking genetic pool. This loss threatens the lynx’s ability to adapt to changing environments, putting their survival at risk.
Our team’s research reveals how the Iberian lynx interbred with its cousin, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) over the past few thousand years. This mingling may have boosted the Iberian lynx’s genetic diversity. This is a crucial factor for its survival, especially as the species faces such an uncertain future.
Low genetic diversity can lead to “inbreeding depression”, where closely related animals breed and produce offspring that are less fit for survival. In extreme cases, this can push entire populations, or even species, to the brink of extinction.
To boost the genetic diversity of populations on the brink, conservationists sometimes turn to “genetic rescue”. This involves introducing individuals from different populations in the hope that they will breed with the local animals, reducing inbreeding and enhancing genetic diversity.
While this strategy can be effective, it’s not without risks. Introducing animals that are too genetically different can disrupt or dilute beneficial traits, potentially harming the population’s ability to survive and reproduce. It’s a phenomenon known as “outbreeding depression”. Despite these risks, genetic rescue remains a valuable tool in conservation, though it’s often approached with caution.
One of the most severe cases of reduced genetic diversity is the Iberian lynx, once the world’s most threatened cat species. It’s mostly found in parts of Spain and Portugal.
Rescue and recovery
Today, the Iberian lynx is recovering from near extinction. More than 400 reproductive females were reported in the 2023 census. This is a massive increase from just 25 in 2002. This turnaround is largely thanks to an ambitious conservation programme over the past two decades, involving coordinated breeding programmes and reintroductions.
Part of this success is due to the “genetic rescue” effect, where mixing the two remaining genetically distinct populations helped boost the species’ genetic diversity. Despite this progress, the Iberian lynx still faces significant challenges. The population is far from reaching the minimum of 1,100 reproductive females needed to be considered genetically viable. So, its genetic diversity remains one of the lowest ever recorded.
Further genetic rescue could be a solution to enhance diversity. But there’s a catch – no other Iberian lynx populations exist in the world that could serve as a source of new genetic material.
Ancient DNA can be extracted from historical remains or subfossil (animals that are not ancient enough to be considered true fossils but are not considered modern either) samples. By studying these, scientists can gain valuable insights into the genetic past of species, offering a stark comparison with their present day counterparts.
In 2015, our colleague Maria Lucena-Perez first visited the lab of another of our colleagues, Michael Hofreiter, in Germany to generate the very first whole genome data from ancient Iberian lynx bones. Extracting ancient DNA from bones is a highly specialised process that requires dedicated cleanroom facilities to prevent contamination from modern DNA.
Working together, our team successfully extracted nuclear DNA from three ancient Iberian lynx specimens. Two of these were approximately 2,500 years old. The third dated back more than 4,000 years. This marked the first time nuclear DNA had ever been retrieved from ancient Iberian lynx. Maria’s achievement has significantly advanced our understanding of how the genetic makeup of the Iberian lynx has evolved over thousands of years.
Our team analysed and compared the DNA with that of modern Iberian lynx. To our surprise, the ancient lynx showed even lower genetic diversity than their modern descendants. Given the sharp decline in their populations over the past few centuries, this finding was both unexpected and puzzling.
Species interbreeding
The missing piece of the puzzle came with the discovery that modern Iberian lynx populations share more genetic variants with the closely related Eurasian lynx than their ancient counterparts did. This suggests that the two species successfully interbred within the past 2,500 years, boosting the genetic diversity of today’s Iberian lynx.
These findings align with extensive genomic evidence of ancient gene flow from Eurasian lynx into the Iberian lynx genome. While the two species don’t share the same habitats today, they once coexisted in the Iberian Peninsula, and possibly in southern France and northern Italy. This situation would have provided plenty of opportunities for interbreeding.
The potential for these two species to naturally meet and breed is growing once more as their ranges continue to expand. This could open up new possibilities for genetic diversity in the future.
The advent of whole nuclear genome analysis over the past 30 years has revealed numerous cases of cross-species interbreeding, such as between polar bears and brown bears. This suggests that the case of the lynx is not so unusual. But the Iberian lynx stands out as the first documented example where interspecies breeding significantly increased species-wide genetic diversity.
We still don’t fully understand the exact effect of this genetic boost, particularly whether it improved the population’s fitness and survival. One intriguing possibility is that the Iberian lynx has managed to persist despite its extremely low genetic diversity, thanks to recurrent genetic rescues by the Eurasian lynx.
While there’s more to learn, our research offers an unexpected but important case study for the broader discussion on genetic rescue. If we can better predict the chances of inbreeding and outbreeding depression when interbreeding happens, we could use genetic rescue more effectively as a conservation tool in the ongoing biodiversity crisis.
Johanna L.A. Paijmans receives funding from Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship “RESOURCEFUL”.
Axel Barlow receives funding from NERC, ERC.
José A. Godoy receives funding from the Spanish Dirección General de
Investigación Científica y Técnica through competitive research grants (projects CGL2013-47755-P, CGL2017-84641-P, PID2021-123358OB-I00) and from EU funded LIFE+ program (LIFE19 NAT/ES/001055 – LIFE LYNXCONNECT)
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Following the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, the following statement was made by Chair Antonio Tajani.
1. Introduction
In today’s meeting in New York, in the wake of the Summit of the Future, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the High Representative of the European Union reiterated their commitment to upholding the rule of law, humanitarian principles and international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, and to protecting human rights and dignity for all individuals.
They re-emphasized their determination to foster collective action in order to preserve peace and stability to address global challenges, such as the climate crisis and to advance the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In doing so, the G7 members renewed their commitment to the promotion of free societies and democratic principles, where all persons can freely exercise their rights and freedoms.
2. Summit for the Future
In the spirit of the renewed determination to strengthen the multilateral system based on the UN Charter’s principles, as reflected in the Pact for the Future adopted at the Summit of the Future by world Leaders, the G7 members committed to continue working with countries and all relevant stakeholders within the UN system through dialogue, mutual understanding and respect in the pursuit of common solutions, with the aim of upholding and reforming the multilateral system so that it better reflects today’s world and is fit to respond to the complex global challenges of the future. They reaffirmed their commitment to work with all UN member states to strengthen the roles of the UNSG as well as the UNGA. They also recommitted to the reform of the UNSC.
3. Steadfast Support to Ukraine
The G7 members reaffirmed their unwavering support to Ukraine as it defends its freedom, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, against Russia’s brutal and unjustifiable war of aggression. The G7 members strongly condemned Russia’s blatant breach of international law, including the UN Charter, and of the basic principles that underpin the international order. They strongly condemned the serious violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by Russia’s forces in Ukraine, which have caused a devastating impact on the civilian population. Violence against civilians, including women, children, and prisoners of war is unacceptable.
They expressed their outrage at Russia’s repeated attacks against critical infrastructure and they condemned in the strongest possible terms any targeting of civilian buildings and even hospitals. Ensuring the protection and resilience of Ukraine’s energy grid and its power generation capacity remains a fundamental and urgent priority as winter approaches. They welcomed the international conference on energy security held on August 22. .as well as the ongoing coordination of the G7 energy group. They reiterated their commitment to help Ukraine meet its urgent short-term financing needs, as well as support its long-term recovery and reconstruction priorities.
Russia must end its war of aggression and pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine. The G7 members reiterated their commitment to explore and use all possible lawful avenues by which Russia is made to meet those obligations.
The launch of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans for Ukraine, as mandated by G7 leaders, will make available approximately USD 50 billion in additional funding to Ukraine that will be serviced and repaid by future flows of extraordinary revenues stemming from the immobilization of Russian sovereign assets held in the European Union and other relevant jurisdictions.
The G7 Foreign Ministers and the High Representative are working, together with Finance Ministers, to operationalize the G7 Leaders’ commitment by the end of the year. They will maintain solidarity in this commitment to providing this support to Ukraine. The G7 members confirmed that, consistent with all applicable laws and their respective legal systems, Russia’s sovereign assets in their jurisdictions will remain immobilized until Russia ends its aggression and pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.
They also committed to strengthening the Ukraine Donor Platform to help coordinate the disbursal of funds and ensure they align with Ukraine’s highest priority needs at a pace it can effectively absorb. This will play a key role in advancing Ukraine’s reforms in line with its European path and in contributing to a successful Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Italy in 2025.
Any use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the context of its war of aggression against Ukraine would be inadmissible. They therefore condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s irresponsible and threatening nuclear rhetoric, as well as its posture of strategic intimidation. They also expressed their deepest concern about the reported use of chemical weapons as well as riot control agents as a method of warfare by Russia in Ukraine.
The G7 members remained committed to holding those responsible accountable for atrocities in Ukraine, in line with international law. They also condemned the seizures of foreign companies and called on Russia to reverse these measures and seek acceptable solutions with the companies targeted by them.
They condemned Russia’s seizure and continued control and militarization of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which poses severe risks for nuclear safety and security, potentially affecting the entire international community. They reiterated their support to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s efforts directed at mitigating such risks.
They underlined once again their support for Ukraine’s right of self-defense and reiterated their commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security, recalling the launch of the Ukraine Compact in Washington on 11 July 2024. They re-affirmed the intention to increasing industrial production and delivery capabilities to assist Ukraine’s self-defense. They highlighted their support to Ukraine in its efforts to modernize its armed forces and strengthen its own defense industry. They expressed their resolve to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities to save lives and protect critical infrastructure.
They remained committed to raising the costs of Russia’s war of aggression by building on the comprehensive package of sanctions and economic measures already in place. Though existing measures have had a significant impact on Russia’s war machine and ability to fund its invasion, its military is still posing a threat not just to Ukraine but also to international security.
The G7 members expressed the intention to continue taking appropriate measures, consistent with their legal systems, against actors in China and in third countries that materially support Russia’s war machine, including financial institutions, and other entities that facilitate Russia’s acquisition of items for its defense industrial base.
They expressed their intention to continue to apply significant pressure on Russian revenues from energy and other commodities. This will include improving the efficacy of the oil price cap policy by taking further steps to tighten compliance and enforcement, including against Russia’s shadow fleet, while working to maintain market stability.
They especially emphasized the urgency to support Ukraine’s energy security, including by coordinating international assistance through the G7+Ukraine Energy Coordination Group. They underscored the importance to continue working with the Ukrainian authorities and International Financial Institutions through the Ukraine Donor Platform, and by mobilizing private investments and fostering participation of civil society.
They highlighted the reality of millions of internally displaced Ukrainians and the importance of an inclusive rights-based, gender-responsive recovery, including the reintegration of veterans and civilians with disabilities, and to address the needs of women, children as well as other population groups who have been disproportionately affected by Russia’s war of aggression. They reiterated their condemnation of Russia’s unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children and welcomed coordinated efforts to secure their safe return. They called on Russia to release all persons it has unjustly detained and safely return all civilians it has illegally transferred or deported, starting with children. They welcomed the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of Ukraine’s 10 point peace formula that will be hosted by Canada on October 30-31.
They reiterated the need to support Ukraine’s agriculture sector, which is critical for global food supply, particularly for the most vulnerable nations, and called for unimpeded exports of grain, foodstuffs, fertilizers and inputs from Ukraine.
They acknowledged the importance to involve the private sector in the sustainable economic recovery of Ukraine. They welcomed and underscored the significance of Ukraine itself continuing to implement domestic reform efforts, especially in the fields of anti-corruption, justice system reform, decentralization, and promotion of the rule of law. These endeavors are in line with the Euro-Atlantic path Ukraine has embraced. The G7 members were unanimous on the need to continue to support efforts of the Ukrainian government and people in these endeavors.
They resolutely condemned Russia’s holding of illegitimate ‘elections’ in the occupied Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Russia’s actions once again demonstrate its blatant disregard for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, and the UN Charter. They called on all members of the international community to refrain from recognizing Russia’s illegitimate actions.
They welcomed the Summit on Peace in Ukraine that took place in Switzerland on June 15-16 and its focus on the key priorities needed to achieve a framework for peace based on international law, including the UN Charter and its principles, and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They remained committed to follow up on the Conference through constructive engagement with all international partners to reach a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.
The G7 members acknowledged that Russia continues to expand its campaigns of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). They condemned Russia’s use of FIMI to support its war of aggression against Ukraine. They reiterated their determination to bolster the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism by developing a collective response framework to counter foreign threats to democracies.
4. Situation in the Middle East
The G7 members reiterated their condemnation of Hamas’ horrendous attacks on October 7, 2023. 101 hostages are still in the hands of Hamas. They noted with deep concern the trend of escalatory violence in the Middle East and its repercussions on regional stability and on the lives of civilians shattered by this conflict, from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli-Lebanese Blue Line. Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences. They called for a stop to the current destructive cycle, while emphasizing that no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.
They expressed their deep concern about the situation along the Blue Line. They recognized the essential stabilizing role played by the Lebanese Armed Forces and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in mitigating that risk. They demanded the full implementation of UNSCR 1701 (2006) and urged that all relevant actors implement immediate measures towards de-escalation.
The G7 members reaffirmed their strong support for the ongoing mediation efforts undertaken by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to reach a resolution between the parties to the conflict in Gaza. They reiterated their full commitment for the implementation of the UNSC Resolution 2735 (2024) and the comprehensive deal outlined by President Biden in May that would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, and an enduring end to the crisis, to secure a pathway to a two-state solution with a safe Israel alongside a sovereign Palestinian state. They urged the parties to the conflict to unequivocally accept the ceasefire proposal, stressing the need for countries in a position to directly influence the parties to cooperate in strengthening mediation efforts. They called for the full implementation of the terms of the ceasefire proposal without delay and without conditions.
They called on all parties to fully comply with international law, including international humanitarian law. They expressed their deep alarm for the heavy toll this conflict has taken on civilians, deploring all losses of civilian lives equally and noting with great concern that, after nearly a year of hostilities and regional instability, it is mostly civilians, including women and children, who are paying the highest price. Protection of civilians must be an absolute priority for all parties at all times.
The G7 members expressed concern at the unprecedented level of food insecurity affecting most of the population in the Gaza Strip. Securing full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access in all its forms and through all relevant crossing points remains an absolute priority. They urged all parties to allow the unimpeded delivery of aid and ensure protection of humanitarian workers by properly implementing de-confliction measures. They recognized the crucial role played by UN agencies and other humanitarian actors in delivering assistance especially health care for the most vulnerable persons, including the polio vaccination campaign. They expressed their support for UNRWA to effectively uphold its mandate, emphasizing the vital role that the UN Agency plays.
The G7 members reaffirmed their unwavering commitment, through reinvigorated efforts in the Middle East Peace Process, to the vision of a two-state solution where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stress the importance of unifying the Gaza strip with the West Bank under Palestinian Authority. We note that mutual recognition, to include the recognition of a Palestinian state, at the appropriate time, would be a crucial component of that political process. They expressed their concern about the risk of weakening the Palestinian Authority and underlined the importance of maintaining economic stability in the West Bank. They welcomed the EU’s 400 million Euro emergency package for the Palestinian Authority. All parties must refrain from unilateral actions and from divisive statements that may undermine the prospect of a two-state solution, including the Israeli expansion of settlements and the “legalization” of settlement outposts. They condemned the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians, which undermines security and stability in the West Bank and threatens prospects for a lasting peace. They expressed their deep concern regarding the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank.
They reiterated their commitment to working together – and with other international partners – to closely coordinate and institutionalize their support for civil society peacebuilding efforts, ensuring that they are part of a larger strategy to build the foundation necessary for a negotiated and lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. The G7 members called on Iran to contribute to de-escalation of tensions in the region. They demanded that Iran cease its destabilizing actions in the Middle East. They underlined that they stand ready to adopt further sanctions or take other measures in response to further destabilizing initiatives.
They reiterated their determination that Iran must never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon and that the G7 will continue working together, and with other international partners, to address Iran’s nuclear escalation. A diplomatic solution remains the best way to resolve this issue. As the IAEA remains unable to verify that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, they urged Iran’s leadership to cease and reverse nuclear activities that have no credible civilian justification and to cooperate with the IAEA without further delay to fully implement their legally binding safeguards agreement and their commitments under UNSCR 2231(2015).
They condemned in the strongest possible terms Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles. Evidence that Iran has continued to transfer weaponry to Russia despite repeated international calls to stop represents a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia has used Iranian weaponry such as UAVs to kill Ukrainian civilians and strike their critical infrastructure.
They reiterated that Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European and international security more broadly.
They reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to hold Iran to account for its unacceptable support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine that further undermines global security. In line with their previous statements on the matter, they underscored that they are already responding with new and significant measures.
They also reiterated their deep concern about Iran’s human rights violations, especially against women and minority groups. They reiterated their call on Iran to allow access to the country to relevant UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures mandate holders.
De-escalation efforts in the region must also include the immediate and unconditional termination of any attack by the Houthis against international and commercial vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea. The G7 members reiterated their strong condemnation of these attacks and the right of countries to defend their vessels from attacks. They called for the immediate release by the Houthis of the Galaxy Leader and its crew. They expressed their strong concern about the August 21 attack on the merchant vessel Sounion and the ongoing risk of an environmental catastrophe as salvage operations continue. They welcomed the efforts by the EU maritime operation Aspides and by the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect vital sea lanes. They appreciated the efforts of those countries that are committed to protect freedom of navigation and trade, as well as maritime security, in line with UNSCR 2722 (2024) and in accordance with international law.
5. Fostering partnerships with African Countries
The G7 members reaffirmed their commitment to support African nations in the pursuit of sustainable development as well as the creation of jobs and growth. The focus remains on fostering fair partnerships, built on shared principles, democratic values, local leadership, and practical initiatives.
They reiterated their intention to align actions with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the specific needs of African countries, including plans to improve local and regional food security, infrastructure, trade, and agricultural productivity. They expressed their support for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, a crucial factor for Africa’s growth in the next decade.
The G7 members emphasized the need to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries and regional organizations. In addition to maintaining financial support for African nations, they expressed their determination to improve the coordination and effectiveness of G7 resources, mobilizing domestic resources and encouraging increased private investments.
They welcomed the African Union’s permanent membership in the G20, and the creation of an additional Chair for Sub-Saharan Africa on the IMF Executive Board in November.
They reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 Compact with Africa, a tool aimed at enhancing private investment, driving structural reforms, supporting local entrepreneurship, and fostering cooperation, particularly in the energy sector. The G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), and initiatives like the EU’s Global Gateway can contribute to promote sustainable, resilient, and economically viable infrastructure in Africa, ensuring transparency in project selection, procurement, and financing. In this framework, they welcomed Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa.
They recognized that sustainable development, peace and security and democracy go hand in hand, reaffirming their commitment to help African governments in strengthening democratic governance and respect for human rights, while addressing conditions conducive to terrorism, violent extremism, and instability.
They expressed their deep concern about the destabilizing activities of the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group and other Russia-supported entities. They called for accountability for all those responsible for human rights violations and abuses.
6. Indo-Pacific
The G7 members reiterated their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, based on the rule of law, which is inclusive, prosperous and secure, grounded on sovereignty, territorial integrity, peaceful resolution of disputes, fundamental freedoms and human rights. They reaffirmed the importance of working together with regional partners and organizations, notably the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). They reaffirmed their thorough support for ASEAN centrality and unity. They reaffirmed their intention to work to support Pacific Island Countries’ priorities, as articulated through the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
As they seek constructive and stable relations with China, they recognized the importance of direct and candid engagement to express concerns and manage differences. They reaffirmed their readiness to cooperate with China to address global challenges. They expressed their deep concern at the China’s support to Russia. They called on China to step up efforts to promote international peace and security, and to press Russia to stop its military aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine. They encouraged China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, including through its direct dialogue with Ukraine. They also expressed their deep concern at China’s ongoing support for Russia’s defense industrial base, which is enabling Russia to maintain its illegal war in Ukraine and has significant and broad-based security implications. They called on China to cease the transfer of dual-use materials, including weapons components and equipment, that are inputs for Russia’s defense sector.
They recognized the importance of China in global trade. However, they expressed their concerns about China’s persistent industrial targeting and comprehensive non-market policies and practices that are leading to global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity in a growing range of sectors, undermining our workers, industries and economic resilience and security, as well as impacting on currencies. The G7 members are not decoupling or turning inwards. They are de-risking and diversifying supply chains where necessary and appropriate and fostering resilience to economic coercion. They called on China to refrain from adopting export control measures, particularly on critical minerals, that could lead to significant supply chain disruptions. Together with partners, the G7 members will invest in building their respective industrial capacities, promote diversified and resilient supply chains, and reduce critical dependencies and vulnerabilities.
They remained seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterated their strong opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion. They reaffirmed that there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and they reiterated their opposition to China’s militarization and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea. They re-emphasized the universal and unified character of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and reaffirmed UNCLOS’s important role in setting out the legal framework that governs all activities in the oceans and the seas. They reiterated that the award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal on 12 July 2016 is a significant milestone, which is legally binding upon the parties to those proceedings and a useful basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties. They reiterated their strong opposition to China’s dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia in the South China Sea and its repeated obstruction of countries’ high seas freedom of navigation. They expressed deep concern about the dangerous and obstructive maneuvers, including water cannons and ramming, by the China Coast Guard and maritime militia against Philippines vessels.
The G7 members reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to international security and prosperity, and called for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. There is no change in the basic position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated One-China policies. They supported Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite and as an observer or guest where it is.
They remained concerned by the human rights situation in China, including in Xinjiang and Tibet. They are also worried about the crackdown on Hong Kong’s autonomy and independent institutions, and ongoing erosion of rights and freedoms. They urged China and the Hong Kong authorities to act in accordance with their international commitments and applicable legal obligations.
The G7 members strongly condemned North Korea’s continuing expansion of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of multiple UNSC resolutions and its continuous destabilizing activities. They reiterated their call for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and demanded that North Korea abandons all its nuclear weapons, existing nuclear programs, and any other WMD and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, in accordance with all relevant UNSC resolutions. They called on North Korea to return to dialogue to promote peace and stability in the Korean peninsula. They urged all UN Member States to fully implement all relevant UN Security Council resolutions. They reiterated their deep disappointment with Russia’s veto last March on the mandate renewal of the UNSC 1718 Committee Panel of Experts.
They condemned in the strongest possible terms the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including North Korea’s export and Russia’s procurement of North Korean ballistic missiles and munitions in direct violation of relevant UNSCRs, as well as Russia’s use of these missiles and munitions against Ukraine. They are also deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missiles-related technology to North Korea, in violation of the relevant UNSCRs. They urged Russia and North Korea to immediately cease all such activities and abide by relevant UNSCRs. They urged North Korea to respect human rights, facilitate access for international humanitarian organizations, and resolve the abductions issue immediately.
They called on China not to conduct or condone activities aimed at undermining the security and safety of our communities and the integrity of our democratic institutions, and to act in strict accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
7. Regional Issues
Venezuela
The G7 members reiterated their deep concern about the situation in Venezuela, following the vote on July 28.
They emphasized that the announced victory of Maduro lacks credibility and democratic legitimacy, as indicated by reports of the UN Panel of Experts and independent international observers as well as data published by the opposition. They underscored that it is essential for electoral results to be complete and independently verified to ensure respect for the will of the Venezuelan people.
They expressed their outrage for the arrest warrant and constant threats to the security of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who decided to seek refuge in Spain. According to the above-mentioned independent reports, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia appears to have won the most votes.
They urged Venezuelan representatives to cease all human rights violations and abuses, arbitrary detentions and widespread restrictions on fundamental freedoms, particularly affecting the political opposition, human rights defenders, and representatives of independent media and civil society. They called for the release of all political prisoners and for a path to freedom and democracy for the people of Venezuela.
They urged the international community to keep Venezuela high on the diplomatic agenda and they expressed their support for efforts by regional partners to facilitate the Venezuelan-led democratic and peaceful transition that the people of Venezuela have clearly chosen in the polls.
Haiti
The G7 members expressed their determination to continue supporting Haitian institutions – including the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) and the Government of Prime Minister Conille – in their commitment to create the necessary conditions of general security and stability for the convening, by February 2026, of free and fair elections. The expression of popular will would set the foundation for the full restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Haiti.
They also expressed full support to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, which is providing critical support to the Haitian National Police as they counter criminal gangs engaged in illicit trafficking and inflicting brutal violence upon the population.
The G7 members emphasized the importance of continued support to the MSS mission through financial contributions to the UN Trust Fund as well as contributions in kind. They expressed their strong appreciation for the commitment of the Government of Kenya – which has already deployed 380 personnel on the ground – to support the Haitian National Police in restoring peace and security.
They called on all countries that have committed to deploy their contingents to the MSS mission to do so as soon as possible, to consolidate the mission and its fundamental role in the Country. They called on Haiti’s partners to continue their humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people and to expedite their financial and in-kind contributions to the MSS mission to help ensure that the mission is resourced for success.
They called also on the United Nations Security Council to consider a UN Peace Operation to maintain the security gains of the Haiti National Police and the MSS mission for holding free and fair elections and called on the Secretary-General accordingly to provide support.
The G7 members welcomed the work of the G7 Working Group on Haiti in monitoring institutional, political, social and security developments in Haiti, with a view to supporting the stabilization of the country and the restoration of full democratic governance.
Libya
The G7 members reiterated their unwavering commitment to Libyan stability, sovereignty, independence and unity. They expressed deep concern about recent developments in the country, in particular those involving the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya and the High Council of State, which show the fragility and unsustainability of the present status quo. They urged relevant Libyan parties to rapidly reach the necessary compromises to begin to restore the institutional integrity of the Central Bank of Libya and its standing with the international financial community. They called on Libyan political actors to refrain from taking harmful unilateral actions that create further political tension and fragmentation and make the country vulnerable to harmful foreign interference.
They noted advances made in the organization of local elections and they called for a free, fair and inclusive participation of all Libyans. It is now imperative to relaunch a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process facilitated by the UN towards free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.
They expressed their support and commended the efforts made by UNSMIL officer in charge Stephanie Koury in support of the stabilization of Libya. They called on the Secretary General to appoint a new Special Representative without delay.
Sudan
The G7 members reiterated their grave concern over the ongoing fighting, mass-displacement and famine in Sudan.
They condemned the serious human rights violations and abuses against the civilian population, including widespread sexual and gender-based violence, as well as international humanitarian law violations by both sides to the conflict. They called for an immediate end to the escalating violence, which is creating further displacement, and urged the warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians. They reiterated their commitment to holding accountable all those responsible for violations of international law in Sudan.
They condemned the emergence of famine in Sudan as a direct consequence of efforts to restrict access of humanitarian actors. They noted recent progress in relation to the re-opening of the Chad-Sudan Adre border crossing, in the wake of the Paris Conference and of the Geneva talks. They called for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access both into Sudan and across lines of conflict so aid can reach all those in need.
They urged all parties to cease hostilities immediately and to engage in serious negotiations aimed at achieving a lasting ceasefire, humanitarian access and protection of civilians without pre-conditions.
They called on external actors to refrain from fueling the conflict, to respect the UN arms embargo on Darfur, and to play a responsible role in resolving the crisis.
They welcomed mediation efforts by regional and international actors and organizations to facilitate a durable peace for the country.
Inclusive, national dialogue, aimed at restoring democracy, re-establishing and strengthening the civilian and representative institutions after the end of the conflict, is a prerequisite for lasting peace. The G7 Members emphasized that it is necessary for representatives of Sudanese civil society, including women, to be fully engaged in the reflection on the political future of the country.
Coventry City Council has received an award for the way it works to support the Armed Forces.
The Council received the Silver Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.
Cllr Linda Bigham, the Council’s Armed Forces Champion, received the award at the National Memorial Arboretum from Air Vice Marshall Adam Sansom.
Cllr Bigham said: “The Council and the city of Coventry are proud supporters of our Armed Forces.
“They have done so much for us over the years, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. We are honoured to receive the Silver Award and we promise we will continue our work to help those who wear, or have worn their uniforms with such pride and courage.
“This award will help us to show them we are there for them and we care, and it will help us to inspire others to offer their support to the Forces, families, their veterans and cadets.
“Coventry is a city of peace and reconciliation and that work is supported so well by the Armed Forces. We look forward to building closer links in the years ahead.”
The Employer Recognition Scheme works to encourage employers to support the Armed Forces and their personnel and inspire others through their work. The award is open to all companies and businesses, as well as public organisations such as the emergency services, local authorities, and NHS trusts.
To earn the Silver Award, employers must have pledged to support the Armed Forces, including existing or prospective employees who are members of the community, and they must have signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
They have to promote being Armed Forces-friendly and be open to employing reservists, veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructors and military spouses/partners.
They have to proactively demonstrate that service personnel and the Armed Forces community are not unfairly disadvantaged as part of their recruiting and selection processes; and ensure that the workforce is aware of their positive policies towards defence people issues. They must also show support to training by providing at least five days’ additional unpaid/paid leave and demonstrate support to the Cadet movement.
The Council has been a long-time supporter of the Armed Forces and is proud to be signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant.
The Covenant is a promise to acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy, and society they serve with their lives.
Pipeline meetings between our regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are an opportunity to exchange information on new developments and collaborate on new possibilities.
The meetings will also help Access regulators plan and prepare for future work-share applications.
The Bundesbank has now launched the digital exhibition “From Brutus to Brandt – Coins as eyewitness and testament to our past”, which provides insight into the role that coins play as communicators of historical events. Coins are more than just a means of payment. They convey messages that have persisted for centuries, said Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz at the exhibition’s launch. Coins make a piece of history tangible, Mr Balz continued. The exhibition guides visitors through historical eras from antiquity to the present day using eight coins from the Bundesbank’s numismatic collection. These include the Brutus aureus coin, which recalls the assassination of the Roman ruler Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and a € 2 commemorative coin marking the Warsaw genuflection by former German Chancellor Willy Brandt in 1970. The exhibition also includes a € 200 gold coin minted to celebrate the introduction of euro cash in 2002. These coins are associated with significant moments in German and European history, said Mr Balz. When designing the digital exhibition, the Bundesbank placed particular emphasis on accessibility and user-friendliness. It is available in German and English and can be accessed on any device with internet access. Visitors to the German version of the exhibition can embark on a journey that provides not only a visual but also an auditory experience. The individual sections of the exhibition take the form of short stories. The digital exhibition “From Brutus to Brandt – Coins as eyewitness and testament to our past” will be available on the Bundesbank’s website for four years. The Bundesbank’s first digital exhibition “BLACK-RED-GOLD” on the history of Germany’s gold reserves will remain available on its website until 2026.
Intervention of Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell
Intervention of Archbishop Peter Soon-Taick Chung, O.C.D
Intervention of Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee
Intervention of Miss Gabriela Su-Ji Kim
At 11.30 this morning, a press conference, “Towards World Youth Day Seoul 2027” was livestreamed from the Holy See Press Office.
The speakers were: His Eminence Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, Archbishop Peter Soon-Taick Chung, O.C.D., of Seoul, president of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for Seoul 2027, Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee, general coordinator of World Youth Day Seoul 2027, and Miss Gabriela Su-Ji Kim, a young Korean.
The following were also present in the hall and available to the press: Dr. Gleison De Paula Souza, secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the Reverend Fr. Franco Galdino, coordinator of the Youth Office of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and the Reverend Fr. Peter Yang, executive secretary of the Local Organizing Committee of Seoul 2027.
The following are their interventions:
Intervention of Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell
Good morning everyone and thank you for being here today!
The Holy Father has chosen the city of Seoul, Korea, as the venue for the next World Youth Day in 2027. For the latest WYD which was held in Lisbon, Portugal, young people went on pilgrimage to the western border of Europe, and now they are being asked to set out for the Far East as ‘a marvellous sign of the universality of the Church and our dream of unity’, in the words of the Holy Father.[1]
The Church in Asia and Korea
After World Youth Day in Manila in 1995, it is coming to Asia again, the ‘cradle of the world’s major religions’, with its ‘intricate mosaic of its many cultures, languages, beliefs and traditions, which comprise such a substantial part of the history and heritage of the human family’ as St John Paul II said in his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia.[2]
Every World Youth Day is a golden opportunity for the local Church hosting it to celebrate its distinct culture and faith together with other Churches. In Korea, Catholics make up 11% of the population. Although a minority, the Church is full of vitality and initiatives of all kinds. It is enriched by the heroic witness of so many martyrs, and it continues to radiate, very strongly, a light of faith and hope that reaches all believers in every part of the world.
So what are the opportunities presented by World Youth Day in Seoul? First of all, like every WYD, it is an opportunity for all young people to rediscover the beauty of Christian life, and to bring to the ordinary circumstances of daily life a renewed desire to be disciples of Jesus and faithful to his Gospel. The rediscovery of Christian life, then, can be fertile ground for the blossoming of many vocations, to marriage or to the priesthood and consecrated life. All of this will have great benefits for the Church in Korea, for the Asian continent, and for the Church globally.
Secondly, Asia is very receptive to the coexistence of cultures, to dialogue and to complementarity. This will be of great help to young pilgrims on their path of learning to become messengers of peace in a world so torn by conflict and confrontation.
Thirdly, the dynamic Asian context will help young people to think about the dialogue between faith and modernity. They live in a world where they are confronted by challenges of global scope. These include a loss of meaning and purpose felt in some societies, the digital revolution, the climate crisis, economic inequalities, etc. The big questions that these challenges raise will stimulate young people to make their personal contribution so that contemporary culture may be permeated and transformed by the Gospel, with its power, light and freshness.
The theme of the journey from Lisbon to Seoul: 2023-2027
As you know, every year young people are invited to celebrate World Youth Day in their local Churches on the Solemnity of Christ the King. Last week, the Holy Father’s Message for the 39th WYD to be celebrated on 24 November was published, ‘Those who hope in the Lord will run and not be weary’ (cf. Is 40:31). This theme marks the stages of an inner pilgrimage that began with the invitation made in Lisbon to arise and set out (cf. WYD Lisbon 2023).
For the Jubilee Year of 2025, young people are called to be pilgrims of hope in Rome and, over the next two years, they will be guided along a path that will culminate in World Youth Day in Seoul 2027. The two themes for this path are included in the documentation you have received that has just been published. The theme chosen by the Holy Father for the 40th WYD is: ‘You also are my witnesses, because you have been with me’ (John 15:27); the theme chosen by the Holy Father for the 41st WYD is: ‘Take courage! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).
That last theme — I will repeat it, ‘Take courage! I have overcome the world!’ (John 16:33) — will therefore be the theme of the 41stWYD in Seoul in 2027.
Both themes are taken from the Gospel of John. They belong to what is known as Jesus’ ‘farewell discourse’ (cf. John 13-17), when he prepares his disciples to experience the mystery of his passion and death, in the certainty of his resurrection. The two themes focus, therefore, on witnessing and on the courage that stems from Jesus’ paschal victory.
The traditional handing over of the WYD Cross and Icon: 24 November 2024
As is customary after every international WYD, the young people of Lisbon will hand over the symbols of WYD to the young people of Seoul: the Youth Cross and the icon of Mary Salus populi romani. This is an evocative ‘passing of the baton’ that will mark the beginning of the Korean Church’s spiritual preparation for World Youth Day. I am announcing that this handover will take place on 24 November, the Solemnity of Christ King of the Universe, during Holy Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
The Youth Cross, also known as the WYD Cross, is always a pilgrim cross. Young Koreans will carry it everywhere — in the cities, in the countryside, among the suffering, the imprisoned and the poor — to bring closeness and consolation to all. However, it is also a jubilee cross because it was entrusted by St John Paul II to young people at the end of the Holy Year of Redemption in 1984. This aspect takes on special significance this year because of the approaching Jubilee. St John Paul II entrusted it to young people with these words: ‘Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption.’[3]
The Cross will be taken by young people to Asia, accompanied by the icon of Mary Salus populi romani, a sign of Mary’s maternal affection and of the Church’s own maternal concern for all humanity.
Our hope is that many young people, even those who have never participated in a WYD, will walk a path over the next three years — above all an interior one –, and come to meet each other in Asia together with the Successor of Peter, and may they all bear courageous witness to Christ together.
_________________________
[1] Angelus, Apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Portugal on the occasion of the 37th World Youth Day, Parque Tejo
(Lisbon), Sunday, 6 August 2023.
[2] John Paul II, Post-synodal exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia, no. 6.
[3] John Paul II, To young people when entrusting them with the Cross of the Holy Year of Redemption, Sunday 22 April 1984.
Intervention of Archbishop Peter Soon-Taick Chung, O.C.D
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Holy Father for proclaiming the theme scripture for World Youth Day Seoul 2027.
In the coming year, young people from around the globe will gather in Rome to celebrate a jubilee year as pilgrims of hope who “hope in the Lord and will run without growing weary.”
This jubilee seeks to renew the young people’s hearts in Christ as they embrace the Pope’s invitation, carrying the newly declared motto with them on their pilgrimage to Seoul, resting on the eastern edge of Asia.
The Korean Catholic Church stands as a testament to the voluntary and dynamic faith of its first believers, who embraced the seeds of the Gospel without the assistance of missionaries, guided by the Holy Spirit. In 2027, numerous young people from all over the world will gather to meet the young believers of Korea, who have inherited the steadfast faith of their ancestors. Together, they will rekindle a passionate zeal for faith.
During times of persecution, the early Korean faithful sent earnest letters to the Pope, fervently requesting missionaries to preserve their gifted faith and to unite with the universal Church. This appeal moved Pope Gregory XVI to establish the Vicariate Apostolic of Chosun, thereby dispatching missionaries and enabling the faith to flourish despite persecution. Just as he did with the early Korean Church, the Pope has once again embraced our Church’s request, inviting young people from all over the world to join the WYD pilgrimage by attending the WYD Seoul 2027.
The pilgrimage of WYD Seoul 2027 will be more than just a large gathering. It will be a meaningful journey where young people, united with Jesus Christ, reflect on and discuss the modern challenges and injustices they face. It will be a grand celebration, allowing everyone to experience the vibrant and energetic culture created by Korean youth. It will also be an opportunity to immerse in and share the dynamic and passionate culture that Korea’s youth have created. Furthermore, through this celebration, Korean young people will gain the invaluable chance to exchange and engage with the concerns and passions of their peers.
Through this collective journey, WYD pilgrims will become “courageous missionaries,” inspired to live out the joy of the Gospel they have found. The Church, united through this period, will listen carefully to the young voices and accompany the youth throughout the pilgrimage. I pledge my utmost commitment to ensuring that the youth from around the world may experience the profound joy of being the integral members of the Church. To young people around the world, we warmly invite you to join us for World Youth Day Seoul 2027!
Thank you.
Intervention of Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee
First and foremost, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our Holy Father for providing the theme scripture that resonates deeply with the circumstances faced by the Catholic Church of Korea and the challenges confronting today’s youth.
Korea stands in a unique context distinct from previous World Youth Day hosts, characterized by the harmonious coexistence of diverse religious traditions. Within this environment, the Catholic Church of Korea has steadfastly embodied the Christian virtues of “forgiveness” and “sharing,” fostering these values in society while coexisting peacefully with other faiths. Amid the persistent reality as a “divided nation,” the Church has diligently worked to resolve the conflicts inherent in this division over the past seven decades, seeking peace and unity for the Korean people. The emergence of K-Catholic and K-faith among our youth is a testament to these sustained efforts. Our young people and young faithful remain open to interreligious dialogue and aspire towards harmonious and peaceful coexistence.
Preparations for the World Youth Day, aimed at sharing our spiritual heritage with the youth worldwide, have already begun in earnest. Following the selection of the host city last year, the Local Organizing Committee was inaugurated in December, alongside the formation of a preliminary research team of young individuals dedicated to spreading the spirituality of World Youth Day. Starting from February 2024, we launched a campaign dedicated to offering a billion Rosaries. This summer, we held a talk concert (at the front yard of Myeongdong Cathedral) fostering genuine conversations among young people and celebrated the Kick-off Ceremony of the World Youth Day Seoul 2027.
From this autumn, we will host Youth Masses and Youth Encounters in 19 deaneries across our diocese. In May of the coming year, we will host a diocesan-wide youth festival. Obviously open to all young people so practically it will be nationwide festival. More importantly, Seoul LOC is always collaborating with Doc of Bishops Conferences of Korea.
Through the Mystery of Life Awards, we encourage young scholars devoted to Christian spirituality to participate and share their scholarly contributions with the universal Church and the global community. As we approach the Jubilee Year, we expect to bring approximately 1,000 young pilgrims to participate in the Jubilee of Youth. It is our fervent hope that through this pilgrimage, they will come to discern the empowering force of hope bestowed by faith and experience a profound personal encounter with Christ within the universal Church.
The logo for WYD Seoul 2027, capturing the vision and aspirations of this momentous event, centered around the theme, “Take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), chosen by the Holy Father. Central to the logo is a cross; the red and blue colors symbolize Christ’s triumphant victory over the world. The left element, reaching upward, signifies God in Heaven, while the right element, pointing downward, symbolizes Earth, illustrating the fulfillment of God’s will on Earth through their unity.
Inspired by traditional Korean art, the overall design employs brushstroke techniques unique to Korean painting and subtly incorporates the Hangul characters representing “Seoul.” At the same time, the logo captures the vibrant energy of youth and skillfully incorporates the letters WYD into its composition.
Additionally, the red on one side of the cross symbolizes the blood of the martyrs, harmonizing with the empowering theme, “Take courage.” The blue represents the vitality of youth and symbolizes God’s calling. Together, these colors echo the Taegeuk pattern on the Korean flag.
Finally, the yellow color that shines behind the cross represents the Christ, who is the “Light of the World.” Christ has overcome the world. He shines upon our Church like the sun rising from the East. And He guides the Church towards unity.
Through this diverse symbolism, the logo for the WYD Seoul 2027 integrates the multiple meanings of martyrdom, youth, Seoul, WYD, and the cross, celebrating the glory of victory achieved through the Holy Spirit. It heralds the call to the young people of Korea and the world to proclaim the faith of the martyrs to the world of our time.
Beyond the symbolism of the logo, we are dedicated to ensuring that the fruits of World Youth Day lead to genuine growth and renewal within the Church. We will undertake this journey, moving forward step by step with unwavering trust in the Lord and with courageous resolve.
Thank you.
Intervention of Miss Gabriela Su-Ji Kim
Youth Leadership and opportunities for evangelization
Hello, my name is Kim Suji Gabriella and I am here to share my passion for youth leadership and the role I hope World Youth Day will have in rekindling our faith. First, I would like to express my gratitude to the Holy Father, who invited everyone to Korea for the next World Youth Day in Seoul, as well as to all those who are working to prepare for this event. My journey in serving youth began as a catechist for middle and high school students in my parish. After experiencing WYD Krakow in 2016, I had the honor of attending the Synod Journeying with Young People in Rome in 2017 as a Korean delegate. This precious experience of meeting and interacting with the Pope and fellow young people has fueled my commitment to serve in the Church.
The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world prevented many from attending church. As the dark days stretched on, many young people drifted away from the faith, and community dissolved. Now that we can gather once more, we face the challenge of a scattered flock, struggling to pass on the experience of faith. However, I am confident that WYD Seoul 2027 will provide a crucial opportunity to rekindle the flames of faith, not only in Korea but also around the world.
We have been invited to embark on a journey to live the spirit of the Synod. With a joyful “Yes,” we will join with young people from around the world. Through WYD Seoul 2027, we will forge a path of unity, hope, courage, and passion, welcoming people from all walks of life, not just Catholic believers, to walk together in harmony. I trust that our Lord Jesus Christ will walk with us on this pilgrimage to the “Far East” and beyond and I am hopeful that all of you in this room will accompany us as well. Thank you.
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – From a land where faith was transmitted “without the assistance of missionaries”, young people will be called to become “courageous missionaries” who can bear witness to the joy of the Gospel in every corner of the planet. This is the hope of the organizers of the next World Youth Day, scheduled to be held in Seoul in 2027, which already has its logo and theme. “Be of good courage: I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33) is the theme chosen by the Pope, while the logo depicts a red and blue cross. These colors symbolize Christ’s triumphal victory over the world. Inspired by traditional Korean art, the overall design uses the unique brushstroke techniques of Korean painting and subtly incorporates the Hangul characters that represent Seoul. Furthermore, the red on one side of the cross symbolizes the blood of the martyrs, harmonizing with the theme of “courage”. The blue represents the vitality of young people and symbolizes God’s call. Together, these colors reflect the Taegeuk motif of the Korean flag. The yellow that shines behind the cross represents Christ, who is the “Light of the World” and shines on the Church like the sun that rises from the East and guides the Church towards unity. Both were announced this morning during a press conference held in the Vatican, attended by Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the Dicastery under which the organization of World Youth Day falls, Peter Soon-Taick Chung, Archbishop of Seoul and President of the Local Organizing Committee of Seoul 2027, Paul Kyung Sang Lee, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul and General Coordinator of WYD Seoul 2027. “The pilgrimage to WYD Seoul 2027 will be more than a simple gathering,” said the Archbishop of Seoul, specifying that what will begin with the Jubilee “will be a significant journey in which young people, united with Jesus Christ, will reflect and discuss the modern challenges and the injustices they face. It will be a grand celebration that will allow everyone to experience the vibrant and energetic culture that young Koreans have created. It will also be an opportunity to immerse themselves in and share the dynamic and passionate culture that young Koreans have produced. Furthermore, through this celebration, young Koreans will have a valuable opportunity to engage and share the concerns and passions of their peers.” Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee noted that Korea “is in a unique context, different from previous World Youth Days, characterized by the harmonious coexistence of different religious traditions. In this context, the Korean Catholic Church has consistently embodied the Christian virtues of ‘forgiveness’ and ‘sharing’, promoting these values in society and peacefully coexisting with other faiths. In a persistent reality of a ‘divided nation’, over the past seven decades the Church has worked diligently to resolve the conflicts inherent in this division, seeking peace and unity for the Korean people. The emergence of K-Catholic and K-Faith among our young people is a testimony to these efforts. Our young people and our young believers remain open to interreligious dialogue and aspire to harmonious and peaceful coexistence”. The journey to Seoul will, however, pass through Rome first. As is customary after every international WYD, in fact, the young people of Lisbon will deliver the symbols of WYD to the young Koreans, namely the Youth Cross and the icon of the Salus populi romani on November 24, Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe, during the Holy Mass that will be presided over by the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica. “Our hope is that many young people, even those who have never participated in a WYD, in the next three years will travel a path, especially an interior one, to meet in Asia together with the Successor of Peter and to give together a courageous testimony of Christ”, concluded Cardinal Farrel. (FB) (Agenzia Fides 24/9/2024)
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.