The new world economy and the effects on Greece

BELEM, Brazil - I write today from Brazil to inaugurate a new series of columns for Kathimerini. My columns in the months ahead will discuss the dramatic changes under way in the world economy, and how these changes affect Greece. Most importantly, I will analyze how new forms of global cooperation, including Europe, China, the US, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the rest of the world, should be implemented to face the world's growing crises.

The great global challenges include the deep dangers of environmental catastrophe; the rising inequalities in societies around the world; and the onrush of new technologies that threaten to disrupt the world if these technologies are not properly used and governed.

Brazil is in fact an excellent place to launch the new column. At the start of the new year, President Lula da Silva, who was an excellent president during 2003...