Opening the event, Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, recalled the origins of the Geneva Policy Outlook as a space created to help Geneva make sense of a rapidly shifting global environment. Launched at a time of geopolitical upheaval, the initiative was designed to provide a safe intellectual forum where difficult questions about international cooperation could be examined openly and constructively. Four years on, she noted, the need for such a space has only intensified. Geneva, with its long tradition of dialogue and accumulated expertise, retains the environment required to contribute meaningfully to the reinvention of international cooperation.
Béatrice Ferrari, Director of International Affairs for the Republic and State of Geneva, situated the moment as one where “global cooperation is tested not only by crises, but by a deeper challenge: a crisis of trust. Geopolitical fragmentation, financial pressures, and disinformation have weakened confidence in evidence, analysis, and knowledge as foundations for collective action.” In such a moment, the Geneva Policy Outlook 2026 is both timely and valuable, as a publication which is “not a simple catalogue of opinions, but a collection of evidence-based reflections that are at the intersection between policy innovation, operational experience, and normative negociation, reflecting what makes the richness of international Geneva’s intellectual ecosystem.”
Introducing the 2026 edition, Prathit Singh, Project Coordinator of the Geneva Policy Outlook, described a global climate marked by the disruption of multilateralism, the fragmentation of the international order, and growing illiberal pressures. At a time when global cooperation is eclipsed by forces of destruction, disruption, and demolition, the GPO 2026 proposed an alternate pathway of keeping Geneva at the forefront of reinventing multilateralism through adaptation, new partnerships, and renewed diplomacy.
The panel discussion explored three critical themes shaping GPO 2026: Adapting multilateralism, Brokering new partnerships, and Diplomacy in action, together with the authors of GPO 2026.
Luiza Delaflora Cassol, Research Assistant, Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), reflected on the future of nuclear diplomacy in Geneva, following the expiration of key arms control treaties. Mark Downes, Director of the Small Arms Survey, highlighted the proliferation of small arms and light weapons as an urgent security and development challenge requiring integrated action from Geneva-based actors. Claire Somerville, Executive Director of the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, examined the fragility of negotiated gender language within Geneva-based multilateral processes. Ellen Rosskam, former Coordinator of the International Geneva Global Health Platform, discussed the implementation of the Minamata Convention as an example of cross-sector cooperation, while Gian Luca Burci, Senior Visiting Professor of International Law, addressed the progress and challenges surrounding the Pandemic Agreement and its Annex on PABS, which continues to be in negotiation in Geneva.
The authors also reflected on emerging partnerships as well as pathways for adapting multilateralism in Geneva. Corinne Momal-Vanian, Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation, reflected on the challenges and opportunities of moving beyond tokenistic youth participation toward more meaningful inclusion in multilateral processes. Shannon Howard, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations World Food Programme, explored the potential for strengthened partnerships between humanitarian actors and the agri-food and commodity sectors based in and around Geneva. Lucile Maertens, Co-Director of the Global Governance Centre and Associate Professor in International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute, examined Geneva’s role as a global hub of “agenda-keeping” by sustaining attention on critical global issues while adapting to new and emerging priorities.
At a moment when global cooperation is frequently perceived as weakened or obsolete, the discussions at the launch highlighted Geneva’s strength as a multilateral hub with its capacity to convene diverse actors, uphold complexity, and imagine alternatives. The moment calls for not only a defence of multilateralism, but also to shape what it must become.
Watch the Recording of the Launch of the Geneva Policy Outlook 2026
