In the first nine months of 2023, the war in Ukraine raged on and on with no end in sight. During the same period we also witnessed a deepening of the rivalry between the US and China, the outbreak of a civil war in Sudan, a coup d’état that ousted the democratically elected president of Niger, the brutal repression of the opposition to the ruling junta in Myanmar, the widening rift between democracies and authoritarian regimes across the world, the threats to humankind posed by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), the growth of inequality among nations and within nations and, as if these challenges were not enough, the existential threat of climate change.

To make matters worse, the current international order has not shown the unity needed to effectively address these challenges. The major powers—the US, EU, China, and Russia—are pursuing different agendas that compete with one and another. That is why middle powers like Indonesia and South Africa are called upon to fill in the vacuum and address these challenges in their own way.

Against that gloomy backdrop, the first session of the Global Town Hall: “State of The World 2023” will discuss major developments in 2023 that have great impact on the global situation. The session will tackle questions like: What will these challenges lead to? What should we worry about? And what trends should we encourage and support? How can we persuade bitter rivals to cooperate for the sake of humankind? Will there be a new World Order?