This post I want to share with you was written by Mark Foster, group chief executive, Management Consulting, Accenture. This post was first published on the Forbes  Blog in the segment ‘Davos Notebook‘ and details Mark Foster’s opinions about the second day of the WEF 2011 in Davos.

The highlight of the morning was a plenary session led by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on the role of the G20 in global governance.  He explained that a direct implication of our interdependent and complex planet is that no nation in the G20 or outside it can “go it alone.” In setting out the agenda of the French presidency of the G20 he covered many topics including making a plea for more collaboration and convergence between the players. He paid tribute to the contribution of the G20 to creating the conditions for 5% growth in global GDP in 2010 but recognised that it was easier to get agreement under the pressure of a crisis – and will be tougher to do in a more benign context.  The G20 is only legitimate if it continues to be a decision-making body rather than a ‘talking’ shop.  He identified real continuing challenges and issues that remain, including inflation and global tensions from commodity price volatility and currency imbalances. The G20 and G8 must discuss this and act. The President called out the weakness of the UN as a body to deal with the issues due to its lack of permanent representation on the security council of Africa, India and Latin America.  He described a vision of a new global architecture for collaboration in an interdependent world.  In the Q and A which followed, President Sarkozy was deeply emphatic about the long-term future of the Euro at the heart of a durable Europe despite recent uncertainty. He was also pretty ardent on the need for substantive regulation of the financial sector. Read more…