[APPLAUSE]
Can I welcome you all
distinguished business leaders
from all over Europe to this
that great conference
today, and can I begin by
congratulating Google.
10 years ago, a research
organization, now
$180 billion company.
An expert in social innovation,
Google Labs Google Maps, Google
Earth, Google Tutors, making
great strides in putting
services to the people of this
country and many
other countries.
And I want to congratulate
Google particularly today, on
the launch of a project with
us, the UK government, a new
map of the world and
interactive map of the world
where by with the
meteorological office and with
the British Antarctic Survey we
will chart with Google Earth
the changes that are taking
place in our climate, both now
and prospectively.
And I think this will be a huge
tool for making people aware of
all the great climate
changes of our time.
I think everybody recognizes
we're in the biggest economic
and social change since
the industrial revolution.
I think behind the credit
crunch and what's happening to
oil and food prices around the
world people sense we're in the
biggest restructuring of the
global economy we have
seen in our history.
I think people also sense that
there's a shift of power taking
place from west to east, as
Asia is in the ascendant
rising as an economy.
And I think as we've just
heard, people also accept we're
seeing a shift of power from
state to people that is
propelled by the new technology
that Google and so many of you
are making available to people.
I think people may sense that
we're on the throws also
of creating the first
truly global society.
People able to communicate with
each other, organize with each
other, and at the same time
find that they have common
cause with each other.
Churchill once said that those
who tried to build the present
in the image of their past will
miss out entirely
on the future.
And he also warned about people
who were facing change resolved
to be a resolute he said,
adamant for drift, solid
for fluidity, and all
powerful for impotence.
And that is a warning
to all of us.
So this is, I think, not
the time for standard,
political speeches.
Not the time for the sort of
speeches that politicians make
going around the country where
they go to each different town
and give exactly the same
speech, and usually are bored
giving that speech themselves.
This is the time for doing
something different.
There's a story told about
Einstein, the great physicist
who ventured into the realm of
politics, as you know, at
certain points in his life.
And he published a book about
his thoughts and went around
all the different towns of
Britain giving a speech.
And he gave exactly the same
speech to an audience that was
in the different towns and
cities of the country.
And he got so bored with doing
it that one night his
chauffeur, who had been driving
him around, who had listened to
all the speeches during the
time he'd been traveling the
country, his chauffeur
offered-- having remembered
everything that he said-- to
give the standard
speech instead.
So Einstein sat in the audience
and the chauffeur went
up and gave the speech.
And it went very well because
he remembered every word of it
until something went wrong.
The chairman for the night
decided to invite questions
for the audience.
And the first question was, how
do you relate your theory of
relativity to the intricacies
of quantum mechanics?
And the chauffeur was stunned,
didn't quite know what to do
and he said, look friends.
This question is so easy that
I'm going to ask my chauffeur
to come up from the
audience and answer.
Now I want to say today that
your industry is driving the
next stage of globalization.
That the lessons we learned
from the success of this
industry are the lessons we
ought to learn if we're
going to make globalization
work for the future.
And that we can also learn
lessons about how we build not
simply a successful global
economy, but a global society.
Now what do I mean by that?
I mean first of all, that
you stand for an open and
non-protectionist economy.
The only way the internet and
the new technology can work is
if there is openness, and if
we are not protectionist.
And I like to think that in
Britain we've created the
opportunities for the mobile
phone market to develop,
for the broadband
market to develop.
That we've pioneered the
release of audio visual
spectrum, we're moving in on
the broadband and trying to
make it more available to
people, and we've got a light
touch regulatory system and we
can talk about that in the
questions that benefits an
industry where we're seeing the
convergence of the
telephone, the television,
and the computer.
So you stand for an open
non-protectionist economy.
You also stand for a flexible
economy that is capable of
responding with light touch
regulation, not heavy
touch regulation to the
challenges of the time.
You stand for innovation and
therefore the flexibility that
we need to support innovation,
and I like to think that we are
making it possible for people
not only to use new technology
but to develop new technology
in our country with the support
we are giving for science.
And you stand for inclusion.
And of course there are only 5%
of people in Africa who can
access the internet, but the
demand is growing and your
ability to provide that in all
the different continents of the
world is something that makes
me confident about the future.
And you stand for a technology
that empowers, so it is people
that are empowered by
everything that is happening.
And these are exactly the
lessons that we've got to learn
if we're going to have a
successful global economy.
We will not have a global
economy that works for the
people of this world unless it
is open, it is flexible, it is
about free trade, it is
non-protectionist, it is
inclusive, it is empowering,
and it is about
building a society.
The problem we've got at the
moment is that protectionist
sentiment is growing in almost
every part of the world.
If you go to America today the
debate is about how they can
restrict imports from China
and other countries.
If you go to parts of Europe
today the debate is about
heavy-handed regulation of
hedge funds or of sovereign
wealth funds or of other
instruments of finance
in the economy.
If you look around the world at
the moment you've got a fearful
population, partly because of
the credit crunch, partly
because of the rising food
prices, partly because
of rising oil prices.
And there's absolutely no doubt
that protectionist sentiment
is growing, particularly
in America and Europe.
So what you stand for, an open,
flexible, and what I stand
for-- an open, flexible, free
trade economy is under threat
from public sentiment.
And why is that the case?
It's because of course, a
million manufacturing jobs
have been lost every year
from America, Europe,
and Japan to Asia.
A quarter of a million service
jobs are moving to India and to
other countries as call centers
and others are developed there.
60% of our computers and
50% of our textiles
are produced in China.
Asia is not
outproducing Europe.
And you can see the public
reaction in the states and in
Europe as people become more
fearful about the jobs.
And ironically, all the great
successors of globalization,
which is to cut the price of
consumer goods, which is also
in addition to that to keep
interest rates low because
inflation is low as a result of
the counter inflation effect of
Asian prices, are forgotten by
people as they worry
about their jobs.
They're insecure and want to
see politicians intervene to
protect, to shelter, to stop
the clock, to freeze frame, and
that is the debate that we're
seeing in many parts of Europe
and America at the moment.
When I was at the International
Monetary Fund meetings some
months ago there were
demonstrators outside and one
of them had a placard
saying worldwide campaign
against globalization.
And that is the irony, that
all the beneficiaries of
globalization, particularly
in Europe and America see
globalization as a threat.
They feel themselves victims
and not beneficiaries, and at
the same time they feel
themselves losers
and not winners.
So here we have this
contradiction.
We know that the only way
we can have a successful
globalization is following
the principles of your
industry: open, flexible,
inclusive, empowering.
We know also that public
sentiment, just as at other
times of rapid change, is
moving to be protectionist.
So what do we do about it?
It seems to be pretty obvious
that we have now got to put
the case for globalization.
First of all, we've got to show
people that the growth in the
world economy as Chinese and
Indian people become consumers,
is going to be very substantial
in the years to come.
I expect the world economy
to double in size in the
next 20 or 25 years.
And even although we're going
through the credit crunch and
growth is faltering in America
and Europe at the moment, we
must not lose sight of the
basic optimism of a world where
producers become consumers in
Asia and the world economy is
going to grow at a
very rapid rate.
The second thing that I think
we can tell people that is
about an optimistic view of the
future is of course this-- that
there are huge opportunities
for people in every
continent of the world.
It's estimated that there will
be a billion more people in
skilled or professional jobs
within the next 20 years.
So the opportunity for social
mobility, not just in China or
India, but the opportunities
for people to make the best of
their talents in countries like
ours and in America, and
across the whole of Europe
are enormous indeed.
The third thing of course
is that technology will
empower even more.
And just as I look at what we
can do in the public sector in
Britain to empower people in
health care with greater access
to information for self
medication and everything else.
In education, greater access to
information for people to study
at home and to draw on the
lectures and the lessons that
come through the internet from
schools and colleges
and universities.
In crime, for people to map the
areas where crime is happening
in to be far more aware on a
day to day, sometimes hour to
hour basis of what's happening
in their neighborhoods.
All these great advances that
are possible will empower
people with new opportunities
for the future.
I think it's also true,
something else that we should
say to people, we can in the
next 20 years create a
truly global society.
Think of the monks in Burma.
20 years ago, 10 years ago,
even 5 years ago we would have
had centuries standing over fax
machines to stop information
getting into our country.
And now even with the
repressive regime like Burma,
information cannot be
repressed forever.
Information cannot be
suppressed, and it comes
out of the country.
Think of the Philippines where
President Estrada was brought
down by what people called,
after a million people texted
to come together in a
demonstration, the first
coup de text in history.
And think of Make Poverty
History, millions of people
around the world linked by the
internet, galvanizing their
efforts together to bring about
substantial social change.
So what are the policy
changes that I would
propose we consider?
First of all, we've got
to stand for free trade.
We cannot allow protectionism
to become the dominant mood
because that will affect not
just your industry, but every
industry and it will hold back
the development of the world.
Secondly, we must stand for
greater flexibility in markets.
The two great protected
industries of the moment are
the two industries that are
causing us the greatest
problems today.
The oil industry, with a cartel
run by OPEC, the food industry
with high levels of subsidy
that are preventing prices for
people that are at a realistic
level and preventing people
from producing in countries and
continents, like Africa, at
a level that they should.
We need to have flexible
markets there.
Thirdly, we've got to
be more inclusive.
The issue is not between change
and no change, the issue
is helping people
cope with change.
And that is why in every one of
the industrialized countries,
the opportunities of education
to get new skills as unskilled
work becomes less relevant for
people must be there and
must be made available.
So we will have to invest
heavily in education as well as
in innovation and research.
Fourthly, we will need global
institutions that meet the
challenges of global times.
And we need an IMF that is
an early warning system
for the world economy.
A world bank for the
environment and not
just development.
A United Nations that can deal
with the stabilization that's
necessary in countries that
need to be reconstructed.
And we will need of course, to
encourage the development of a
global society in our times.
I believe that the challenges
ahead, for this world make us
all optimistic rather
than pessimistic.
I believe that an industry
like this can fight the
protectionist sentiment that
undoubtedly exists when people
are fearful for change.
But I believe that we must
become proselytizers
of a message.
That instead of a worldwide
campaign against globalization
being the common root of the
times, that we fight a
worldwide campaign
for globalization.
It was said in ancient Rome
that when Cicero spoke people
said, from the eloquence of
his remarks, great speech.
That it was said in ancient
Greece that when Demosthenes
spoke, and he too was eloquent
about what should be done, the
public then said, let's march.
And I believe that we should
all be marching as one, for a
vision of globalization
absolutely central to the
industry you represent.
Open, flexible, inclusive,
empowering, and building a
global society in our times.
That is a challenge
that I believe we can
all meet together.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
