Eagerly expected by previous participants. Anticipated with excitement by
new ones. And now also open to the general public: The Tällberg Forum
2006 opened today at 15:00 with a direct address via video link by UN
General Secretary Kofi Annan. Lill Lindfors was Master of Ceremony for
an opening where Tällberg Forum’s founder Bo Ekman led a dialogue
between Kofi Annan, Latvia’s president Vaira Vike-Freiberga and social
entrepreneur Ashok Khosla from India.

In the village of Tällberg by the shores of Lake Siljan, leaders from business, politics and society meet for four days to discuss the global challenges of today. In his introductory speech to the 330 participants, Bo Ekman set the tone for this year’s Forum:

“How on Earth can we live together? Not just we, the humans, but we
interdependent with all the living system. How on earth can we evolve together? Because right now we are destroying the world for each other. Temperatures are rising, because of the increases of greenhouse gases, which are caused by an economy that grows exponentially, which is fueled by a population explosion the last 200 years. And we have to create a billion new jobs in the next decade. We are messing with the future. The fundamentals for life are threatened – in some places already beyond a tipping point. Earth’s balance-sheet is weakened. There cannot be any economic activity without inputs of air, water, land, energy.
But – the economic, social, environmental system that man has created and which now threaten our world can be changed by man”.

With that approach, participants at Tällberg Forum meet for open discussions for the next four days. The discussions are grounded by practical cases from ten places, chosen from around the world. By looking at concrete and local questions, the Forum tries to grasp the abstract, global problems. In his address, which was held via a direct video link from the UN’s headquarters in New York, the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan stressed the importance society and individuals putting pressure on those in power. Pressure that builds from below can move mountains and change the systems which now ultimately will ruin our environment to start working for sustainability and durable development.

Latvia’s president Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented herself as a “leader for a country that until very recently wasn’t even on the map.” Every day she sees in her country how the pressure from below, which Kofi Annan described, created – and still creates – a new country. By working together, individuals have managed to shift an entire system; and what used to be a region of the Soviet Union is now the independent nation of Latvia”.

Ashok Khosla challenged the UN and Kofi Annan to be even bolder with UN’s Millenium Development Goals which the UN adopted for goals such as halving poverty, providing basic education to all, and reducing the spread of HIV. The opening ceremony was led by Lill Lindfors and included musical interludes by Ale Möller and the Amanda Choir.

For questions, please contact:
Pernilla Halldin, Springtime, på uppdrag av Tällberg Forum
Mobil: 0709-64 44 46
Epost: pernilla.halldin@springtime.nu

You can follow Tällberg Forum on the web: The official blog is found at
www.tallbergforum.org/blogg2006.

For the second consecutive year, Springtime sponsors Tällberg Foundation with media contactsand a press center in Tällberg. Springtime is a PR and communication firm that works with Corporate and Internal Communication, Investor Relations, and Public Affairs. We are convinced
that people influence people and that it is only through dialogue that attitudes, opinions and values will change. See more at http://www.springtime.nu.