The Rhodes Forum's founding president Vladimir Yakunin delivers a speech at The Rhodes Forum, also known as the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations, in Rhodes, Greece, on Oct. 9, 2015. (Xinhua/Chen Zhanjie)
RHODES, Greece, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- As conventional models fail, new economic non-mainstream alternatives are needed, experts from across the globe highlighted at the 14th Rhodes Forum held on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Greece.
The global financial crisis in 2008 and the European debt crisis has resulted in high unemployment, weak global trade and increasingly unstable financial markets, making the need for further reforms in international finance architecture more imperative than ever, they said.
"It is obvious that the system does not work as it should... with globalization, inequalities within the countries have increased a lot," former head of the International Monetary Fund and managing partner of "Parnasse International," Dominique Strauss Kahn, highlighted.
Professor of international banking at the University of Southampton Rickard Werner stressed that stable, prosperous societies with less inequalities are required. "All scientific research shows that public health is better when there is less inequality, when family is stable. We have to go back to families," he said.
The future is in local, decentralized public money backed by nonprofit community banks.
"You get very stressed when you don't have control of your life. Empower families and local communities to design their own system suitable for their needs," Werner added.
Urgent need for social investment and inclusive development for all the countries across the globe, was the message that prevailed among the participants.
"Social investment is needed when people are displaced, when there are cultural, political, ethnic and religious tensions in the population," Jayshreee Sengupta from India and senior research fellow at the Observer Research Foundation said.
For Sengupta, a new model for international financial architecture has already emerged. There has been a rise of growing network of regional, bilateral and domestic forms of banking.
"BRICS have contributed a rising share to global output in recent years. They are expected to exercise a growing degree of influence in international finance," she said.
The establishment of banks like New Development Bank (NDB), Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China's Silk Road Fund are more suited to finance developing countries and reflect their needs and voices, said Sengupta.
Regarding promoting the human capital, Dimitris Psarrakis, Economic & Monetary Policy Advisor at the European Parliament, stressed that family is the global economic factor that should be developed.
In addition, he said every country must have room to get the transformation that it needs, rejecting the one model for all.
As dialogue among different civilizations is the core message of the 14th Rhodes Forum, participants agreed that while it is difficult to have an agreement on an issue, especially on economic models, the most difficult part is what to do next.
Since its creation in 2002, the Rhodes Forum held annually on the Greek island of Rhode has sought to promote a new culture of dialogue.
