Former U.S. President Bill Clinton sees a troubled world on fire with strife and tensions and is convinced he has just the means to save it.
That is why he is calling on “governments, businesses, philanthropies and other prominent institutions” to back the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the meeting of international leaders, when it reconvenes Monday for the first time since 2016.
Those who do attend will meet a host of celebrities along the way.
This year’s guest list includes Matt Damon, Bono, Ashley Judd, Robin Wright and Lin-Manuel Miranda, along with Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Laurene Powell Jobs, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Jose Andres and Queen Rania of Jordan.
File/Bono, lead singer, U2 during the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative at the Sheraton New York Hotel in New York City. He will be returning this year to offer more advice on saving a planet in peril. ( Lars Niki/Corbis via Getty Images)
Clinton, president of the United States from 1993 to 2001, claims to be “amazed” by the massive response to the event resuming once more after the delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The world’s on fire in a lot of different ways,” he told the Associated Press in an interview Monday. “But there are a lot of things that businesses, non-governmental groups and governments working together can do to help with a lot of these problems.”
A subset of the Clinton Foundation, the CGI “convenes global and emerging leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges,” according to its website.
“Rather than directly implementing projects, CGI facilitates action by helping members connect, collaborate, and develop Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable plans that address global challenges,” it says of itself.
The Clinton Global Initiative ended in 2016 as Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign.
The year before, donations plummeted by 37 percent amid allegations that Clinton used the charity to solicit millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments and corporations in exchange for giving these entities favorable treatment while she served as Secretary of State.
Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer exposed one such deal—known as the Uranium One deal— and other transactions between Clinton Foundation donors and the State Department in his book Clinton Cash, which prompted a flood of media coverage of the foundation’s dealings on both sides of the ideological spectrum.
Now the CGI is ready to go again and will convene between September 19 to September 21 in New York City.
Past events have featured A-list celebrity speakers and top business executives such as Ben Affleck, Bono, and former Presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter.
The initiative has also been sponsored by major corporations, from Coca-Cola, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Group, Laureate Education, Monsanto, and Standard Chartered Bank.
Chelsea Clinton (L), and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) listens as former President Bill Clinton speaks during the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference at the University of Chicago on October 16, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The Clintons addressed the next generation of leaders of and global warming. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Former president Bill Clinton speaks to students at Clinton Global Initiative University Day Of Action as more than 600 young people prepare to participate in the Day of Action activities throughout the city of Boston on October 15, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
This year former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will discuss approaches to creating gender equality with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, actor and philanthropist Robin Wright and others.
All three Clintons will talk about partnerships that focus on common humanity alongside Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, U2 singer Bono and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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