|
Following are some notable quotes from the first day of the Dec.
1-3 conference.
To watch the Reuters Next conference please register here
https://reutersevents.com/events/next
KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, PRIME MINISTER OF GREECE
"I do expect the rules of the existing (European Union)
Stability and Growth Pact to be changed, taking into account the
lessons of the financial crises and also the lessons of the
pandemic."
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, HEAD OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
"I think it (WTO reform) will be very tough because of the lack
of trust among members.
"It's absolutely important that we support multilateral trade
and we don't take it for granted."
VALDIS DOMBROVSKIS, EUROPEAN COMMISSION EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT
"One can say that this year was indeed a breakthrough year for
EU-U.S. trade relations.
"There are clearly things to watch, but what I can say is that
we are now engaging constructively so I am confident we are able
to address any issues or concerns that are coming."
THOMAS SCHMALL, VOLKSWAGEN BOARD MEMBER
On VW's planned European battery cell plants: "We are talking
about 25 to 30 billion (cost, in euros) ... including the
vertical chain of raw materials, not only the factories."
On being carbon neutral by 2050: "And this altogether brings us
in this closed loop and hopefully show you that we are taking
care from the beginning on, from the first step, from the mining
process, to be sustainable, until the last point of battery
lives and car lives and recycling."
YAT SIU, CHAIRMAN AND CO-FOUNDER OF ANIMOCA BRANDS
"One way to describe the growth of the metaverse is a little bit
like the growth of China 30 years ago, in a more limited
fashion.
"Maybe people didn't understand it but you could see the growth
factors that make China work: population growth, industry
growth, all that kind of stuff. The metaverse is the
equivalent."
"What Facebook is doing with meta ... is a 'fake metaverse,'
unless they actually have a real description as to how we can
truly own it.
"Until then, it's just Disneyland. It's a beautiful place to be,
but we probably don't want to really live there. It's not the
kind of place that we can actually build a business."
LORENZO BERTELLI, PRADA MARKETING CHIEF AND HEIR-DESIGNATE
"Second-hand (fashion) is a strategy we have been investigating
for more than a year. I cannot disclose too much but for sure
second-hand is there. We will take it as an opportunity.
"It can be a partnership with a player or it can be something
more in-house, or both of them, a sort of hybrid solution like
for e-commerce."
FALGUNI NAYAR, FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF INDIAN
COSMETICS-TO-FASHION RETAILER NYKAA
"The process of store expansion had slowed down due to
(COVID-19) pandemic for a year or so. But this year we have
revived our store rollout.
"(Many Indians are) yet to buy their first watch, first car,
first home - I think India is in a very different place compared
to other developed economies."
ANDRE DE RUYTER, CEO OF SOUTH AFRICAN STATE POWER UTILITY ESKOM
On shifting away from coal: "Hopefully we can persuade people to
come and set up factories here, to build components for
renewable energy, that will create jobs that will create demand
for electricity which will turn this challenge that we have got
at the moment from a vicious downward cycle into a virtuous
upward cycle."
SOPHIE GOOSSENS, PARTNER AT REED SMITH SPECIALISING IN
TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA LAW
"The type of rights that you are being granted on digital
ownership of an NFT are slightly different. You may not have the
right to control fully the asset that you own as an NFT."
NATALIE JOHNSON, FOUNDER OF NEUNO, A FORTHCOMING MARKETPLACE FOR
FASHION BRAND NFTS
"You don't need to be a hardcore gamer to be embracing and
playing with this new technology. It's going to be for
everyone."
JOHN MOORE, PROFESSOR OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY AT WEILL
CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE IN NEW YORK
"It is no coincidence to most of us that (the Omicron
coronavirus variant) arose in Sub Saharan Africa, where you have
a lot of under-diagnosed HIV infections, or people who are
immunocompromised with it.
"That's how the other variants are thought to have arisen - in
immunocompromised people."
WINNIE BYANYIMA, UNAIDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
"We do expect that in the coming years, we might see more
(HIV/AIDS) deaths, we might see more new infections as a result
of these (COVID-19 pandemic) disruptions."
MEG TAYLOR, FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
FORUM
On U.S.-China rivalry in the Pacific: "Everybody comes with
price tags. I can see this starting to emerge now with the bases
- the U.S. is now going to establish bases throughout the
region."
On the COP26 climate talks: "I just expected countries to be
much more progressive, especially with what the threats are to
the Pacific."
ANOTE TONG, FORMER PRESIDENT OF KIRIBATI
"I don't think the global community has ever truly understood
what it is that we face with the impacts of climate change. It
is an existential threat."
WALTER SCHALKA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF BRAZILIAN PULP AND PAPER MAKER
SUZANO
"Climate change is something we cannot procrastinate on anymore.
The way for the future to finance that will be through a global
regulated carbon market."
TORBJØRG FOSSUM, VICE PRESIDENT FOR GLOBAL CCS SOLUTIONS AT
EQUINOR
"Today there is a gap between what it costs to emit (the) CO2
and what it costs to implement CCS (carbon capture and storage).
We believe that that gap is closing within the next 10 years."
"We believe there is potential to break even at 100 euros per
tonne."
(Compiled by Catherine Evans; Editing by Alexander Smith)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
