42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton Discussed Global Challenges with Ukrainian Students

On Monday, 4 September 2010, the 42^nd President of the United States William Jefferson Clinton met with Ukrainian students, as part of the “Public Lectures” project of the Victor Pinchuk Fundation. Over 500 young people from all over Ukraine – students from more than 50 universities, Zavtra.UA scholarship programme winners, postgraduate students of the Diplomatic Academy etc. - joined the meeting held in the building of the Diplomatic Academy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Over the course of a one-and-a-half hours, President Clinton lectured on the global challenges and answered questions of the young audience. Bill Clinton highlighted that the majority of positively charged exiting processes of globalization in economical, political and public life, at the same time can be a major cause for instability nowadays.

Talking about the influence of impetuous development of the Internet in the recent years, Clinton commented that some 17 years back, the year he was elected President of the USA, the global network had only 50 websites! Today, the Internet is an integral part of the global trade and communication. At the same time, it is the Internet that helps hundreds of criminal and terrorist groups keep in touch and plan their activities in any part of the world. And intensive development of global trade, despite its positive effect, leads to increase in economic and social imbalance, as well as tension inside the countries and between them.

In his answer to the question on the role of philanthropic institutions today, Bill Clinton stated that charities and NGOs have an indisputable advantage over commercial organizations. Unlike commercial organizations, philanthropic ones do not focus on gaining and maximizing their profits but aim to achieve tangible results from social activity. But at the same time, they have the right to be wrong and therefore have more freedom to implement new projects and innovative ideas, as well as search for the most efficient decisions.

Recollecting his student years, some of which he spent in the Great Britain, Bill Clinton, emphasized on importance of having high quality education abroad. He said: “You should study abroad, if there is such an opportunity. You particularly should do it if you return to your country and make use of the new knowledge for the country’s development.”

Answering the question about gradual elimination of borders as result of the globalization, Clinton called the young Ukrainians to become citizens of the world, while remembering who you are and where you come from.

Following the meeting, Bill Clinton had an informal chat with the Ukrainian youths, signed some autographs and had his photos taken with the students.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation regularly invites internationally renowned economists, politicians and public figures to Ukraine to discuss today’s challenges facing Ukraine and the world. By organizing such open dialogue between top level leaders, experts and Ukrainian audience, the Foundation makes its own contribution in fostering a new generation of responsible leaders.

Following experts have previously given public lectures: Dr. Robert Engle, 2003 Nobel Prize Laureate; Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Professor of International Political Economy at the Johns Hopkins University; co-author of ‘Microeconomics’ Dr. Robert Pindyck; James Wolfensohn, the ninth president of the World Bank Group; Muhhamad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Colin Powell, the 65th US Secretary of State; Javier Solana, a former High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (1999-2009) and Secretary General of NATO (1995-1999); former Vice Chancellor of Germany Joschka Fischer and other.

TheVictorPinchukFoundation (pinchukfund.org) is an independent private international charity based in Ukraine. The Foundation was established in 2006 by businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk. Its goal is to empower future generations to become the change makers of tomorrow. To achieve this, projects are developed and partnerships are built in Ukraine and worldwide.

The Foundation invests in three main directions:

· Investing in people, to boost human capital;

· Investing in the society, to promote social responsibility;

· Investing in the world, to foster a more integrated world.

The largest projects of the Foundation include the programme for creation of neonatal centres Cradles of Hope, the nation-wide programme for support to young talented people Zavtra.UA, the centre for contemporary art PinchukArtCentre, the international network YES (Yalta European Strategy) to support Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is a member of European Fund Centre and Ukrainian Grant makers Forum and a partner of the Yalta European Strategy (YES). The Foundation cooperates with Clinton's Global Initiative and other non-governmental organisations.

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