TFWA Opening Conference
A brand new but complex world ahead of us
Tax Free opened with the first words by Erik-Juul Mortensen during the Opening Conference. He was pleased to welcome Kofi Annan, for this key-note event. Kofi A. Annan was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving two terms from January 1st, 1997, to December 31, 2006 and was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff. In 2001 Kofi Annan and the United Nations were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace with the citation praising his leadership for “bringing new life to the organization”. He addressed to a large audience during the Opening Conference, providing insights issued from his diplomatic career into the aftereffects for the world economics and politics in Africa and Middle-East. He expressed: «We live in a complex world, an always changing one, and in which people are more than ever interconnected. We are thus affected by decisions and actions taken elsewhere. After having underlined the most urgent global challenges that are food and climate change, Annan saluted the Arab Spring, awaiting changes the elections in the region would bring. He concluded: « I’m an optimist that believes we are going through tough times in the next two years».
