G (last updated on march 7, 03)

• GROUP OF LISBON

  The Group of Lisbon is composed of twenty persons from Japan, Western Europe and North America with different educational backgrounds and experience in business, government, international organisations and academia. The name of the group has a symbolic meaning. Its activities began in 1992, the year of the 500^th anniversary of the so-called discovery of the new world. Portugal was the mother country of the 15^th century era of descabrimentos (discoveries).

  The aim of the group was, and remains, to analyse changes affecting national economies, the growth of multinational and global firms, the role of the state and to recommend actions in support of a new global endeavour based on cooperation rather than conquest.

  Hence the name of the group.

  It was created on the initiative of Riccardo Petrella, a civil servant at the Commission of the European Communities. During the period 1992-94 the Group received financial support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to meet in Lisbon. Since 1995 the Group has met in many places in Italy, Spain, Japan, Sweden, Quebec with support from local foundations and governmental institutions.

  The Group published in 1994 a “manifesto”, Limits to competition, now available in ten languages. Another publication : The financial Disarmament. The Group is actively involved in the promotion of a “Global Water Contract” and a “Global Cultural Contract”.

  Contact :
  Fax :	(+32) 2 245 21 08