Cascais, Portugal—UPF had the honor to be included among the partners at the seventh edition of Estoril Conferences 2022.
“Rebalancing Our World: A Call to the Purpose Generation” was the general topic of this year’s edition, whose three sessions were titled “For Planet,” “For People,” and “For Peace.”
More than 4,000 people participated in the event, which was held on September 1 and 2, 2022, at the Nova School of Business and Economics as well as online.
The event was hosted by Nova SBE together with the Municipality of Cascais and the National Tourism Authority.
In March 2022, Estoril Conferences Executive Director Dr. Silvia Rodriguez contacted UPF-Portugal after meeting UPF-Denmark Secretary General Karsten Nielsen and Dr. Anja Ringgren Lovén, a member of the Estoril Conferences Advisory Board.
Thanks to their support, UPF-Portugal’s president and board secretary initiated a cooperative relationship with Estoril Conferences which led to a memorandum of understanding in which UPF would become an institutional partner. This agreement allowed UPF to participate in this year’s program.
According to its website, the Estoril Conferences promote dialogue and the creation of coalitions for innovative solutions to global challenges.
The organization seeks to engage what its website calls “the purpose generation,” empowering younger generations to join “intergenerational dialogue … to jointly find possible solutions and action plans.”
Each of the three sessions of the 2022 Estoril Conferences was divided into talks, conversations, expert sessions and panel debates. Experts from all over the world from the realms of government, business, media, NGOs, education, art and civil society spoke of their experiences, visions and perspectives on the major global challenges.
They interacted with journalists and particularly with the students who masterfully conducted the sessions. Together with the students of Nova SBE, students of four prestigious CEMS (Global Alliance in Management Education) schools from the United Kingdom, Colombia, Canada and Finland followed and commented on the contents of specific sessions.
The conference began with the welcoming introduction, “The World in Our Hands,” given by event emcee Méabh McMahon from Ireland, the European affairs correspondent for Euronews.
This was followed by the Purpose Generation Declaration, read by Emile von Schomberg, a CEMS Masters in Management student at Nova SBE.
The hosts of the event warmly welcomed the audience: Carlos Carreiras, the mayor of Cascais; Miguel Pinto Luz, president of the Alfredo de Sousa Foundation; and Daniel Traça, dean of the Nova School of Business and Economics. They prepared the atmosphere for the president of Portugal, H.E. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who offered words that were titled “Solemn Moment.”
Particularly interesting for Europeans was a panel debate in the last session, “Peace in Europe,” which faced the very delicate situation afflicting the continent (and all the connected challenges). The debate participants were former and current European leaders: H.E. Aleksander Kwaśniewski, president of Poland (1995-2005); H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, president of Croatia (2015-2020); H.E. Yulia Tymoshenko, prime minister of Ukraine (2005, 2007-2010), and H.E. Hryhoriy Nemyria, the first deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ukraine. Méabh McMahon from Euronews moderated the debate.
This session was followed by the panel debate “Living through Conflict” with speakers Anatoliy Aleksandrov, head of the International Cooperation Division of Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau; Vladimir Milov, a former Russian deputy minister of energy; and Natalya Sindeyeva, founder of Dozhd Media Holding. The debate was conducted by Roman Dobrokhotov, founder and editor-in-chief of the independent online newspaper The Insider.
The final session also included the conversation “Escaping from Hell” with the presence of António Vitorino, director general of the International Organization for Migration, who described the terrible situation of many migrants and refugees arriving in Europe.
H.E. José Ulisses Correia e Silva, the current prime minister of Cabo Verde, offered interesting perspectives in another conversation, “Democracy in Developing Countries.”
The final presentation, “The World Ahead,” featured H.E. Roberta Metsola from Malta, the current president of the European Parliament. She inspired everybody by asking the audience, especially the students, the “purpose generation,” the EU citizens, to believe in the future of Europe with hope, courage and commitment.
“Europe has the power to change and transform the world,” she said. “Looking at the critical situation affecting our continent since a few months, we can say that Europe cares and protects. Europe is opportunity too.” The discussion was guided by two Italian students of the CEMS Masters in International Management program and co-founders of the Nova SBE Politics Club.
Here is the link to a recording of Roberta Metsola’s final remarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuguzA09JQ8
The UPF delegation comprised 10 persons, of whom nine, including some Ambassadors for Peace, came from Portugal: UPF-Portugal President Sergio Vieira, Vice President Moreno Berto, and Secretary of the Board Ana Paula Silva;
FFWPU-Portugal President Sergio Neto; WFWP President Marta Maria Carvalho Rodrigues; Dr. Margarida Frazao, the president of the association Together Without Borders;
Professor José Paulo de Oliveira, the CEO of the Lusophone Observatory of Economic Activities at Lusophone University; Professor Nuno Emanuel André, an Ambassador for Peace and a researcher at Nova University and coordinator of the project Education for Peace;
Professor Helena Agueda Marujo, an Ambassador for Peace and the director of the Chair of Peace at the Higher Institute of Political Sciences; and Maria Gabriella Mieli, the coordinator of UPF for Southern Europe.
This was the first Estoril Conference in which UPF was involved, and it marks the beginning of a meaningful cooperation with the Estoril Conferences in the years to come.
UPF thanks the Advisory Board and directors of the Estoril Conferences for the opportunity to partner with such an important platform, working together “as changemakers for concrete solutions to act as a turning point to open a new era.”