The Agenda Podcast

Send a text June the 20th marked the annual World Refugee Day. And this year the statistics are more troubling than ever - 2024 marked a new record - with almost 130 million people across the world displaced, everywhere from Gaza to Myanmar, Sudan to Venezuela. Last year the UN's Refugee Agency, the UNHCR spent nearly $5bn dollars - less than half of what was needed, thanks largely to governm...

Send a text On May the 6th, China and the European Union mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties.  But just where do relations between two of the world's largest economies stand in 2025? And are they moving closer together, or further apart – especially as Donald Trump’s tariff plans start to bite? In this special edition of The Agenda, CGTN’s Li Jianhua talks to Ambassador Cai Run, Head...

Send a text When President Trump announced 25% tariffs on all cars imported into the US from April, and the same levy all car parts from May, he described them as "permanent."   Since then, his hard lines on trade have become increasingly blurred… but, as things stand, just what are the implications of the somewhat erratic US trade policy for the automotive sector, global supply chains a...

Send a text Should the world fear China? It’s a question on the lips of many in a world where a global trade war seems to be looming. It’s also the title of a new book by senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy and retired Senior Colonel in China’s People’s Liberation Army, Zhou Bo . In this Agenda special, Jamie Owen talks to Zhou Bo about his book an...

Send a text He hasn't yet spent 100 days back in the White House, but Donald Trump has already upset the world with his extraordinary approach to trade and tariffs. So where exactly are we headed, and can we expect more of what China has called Trump's "economic bullying"? On this edition of The Agenda, Juliet Mann speaks to Marco Simoni, Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Pol...

Send a text Five years after the COVID pandemic, which devastated the industry, tourism is now back on its feet. But concerns about over-tourism and the impact of climate change are forcing the sector to look to new ways of operating.   So what does that look like in practice?  On this episode of The Agenda, Juliet Mann speaks to Olga Kefalogianni, Greece’s Tourism Minister, and her Saudi Arabian...

Send a text In this CGTN special - China Agenda – Juliet Mann and her guests consider the outcomes of this year's Two Sessions gatherings and what it  all means for China, and the rest of the world. Further modernisation, innovation driven development and further opening up were all key themes at the gatherings, but what will this all look like in practice?  Juliet is joined by Pascal Lamy, f...

Send a text The results of Germany's snap election are in, and Friedrich Merz is set to be the country's next leader after his Christian Democratic Union took 28% of the vote.   But with the far-right AFD taking a strong second place, Europe's largest economy faltering and rows between the EU and the US only growing, how big a task is he facing? Joining Juliet Mann on this episode o...

Send a text For decades, the relationship between the United States and Europe has been  characterised as a transatlantic alliance with shared values on the likes of foreign policy and security.    But after a week of diplomatic shocks, including the Trump administration excluding Kyiv and Brussels from talks to end the Ukraine war, do the US and Europe still speak the same language?    On this ed...

Send a text At the end of last year, DeepSeek was a little-known Chinese Artificial Intelligence startup.  But by the end of last month it was the most talked about company in the world, whose revolutionary approach to open-sourced generative AI had rocked global markets, wiping more than a trillion dollars off tech and energy stocks, and seemingly leveling the global AI playing field. But what do...

Send a text The United Kingdom starts 2025 in something of a financial mess.   Inflation and interest rates remain stubbornly high, and the Labour government, which swept to power in a landslide victory in July of last year, has seen support tumble after its first budget contained tax hikes and spending cuts.   But can UK plc trade its way out of trouble? And what might new relationships, with the...

Send a text 2024 will go down as the biggest election year in history - wth more than 2 billion people casting ballots across the globe.   The year also saw inflation and interest rates easing across much of the world, even while geopolitcal tensions remained high.    So what might 2025 have in store? Joining Juliet Mann to consider just that on this episode of The Agenda are Keyu Jin, Author and...

Send a text China and the EU ended 2024 in something of a tricky situation as the row over electric vehicle tariffs threatens to undo much of the good will built up by Xi Jinping’s summer trip to Europe, and visits to Beijing by a number of EU leaders over the past 12 months.  So with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties coming up in May of 2025 just where do relations stand between two of the...

Send a text The curtain has now come down on the COP29 climate summit in Baku. And while a trillion dollar deal for climate financing was done at the last minute, some campaigners have called it a betrayal - as much of that figure will have to come from private financing or new sources which have yet to be agreed.    To consider where the meeting really leaves us, and our planet, on this edition o...

Send a text In 1944 delegates from 44 countries gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the United States to agree on a system of economic order and global cooperation. Eighty years later, the seeds sown there for the likes of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank still dominate the world.    But with the rise of countries like China and the rest of the global south, many think it&apo...

Send a text As world leaders cross the planet to attend the APEC meeting in Peru, the G20 Summit in Rio and COP29 in Aerbaijan, the voice of the global south has never been more vital.   At all of these gatherings, developing nations are fighting to get their voices heard, and pushing to create new forms of global governance that can change the way the world is run. We’ve heard a lot of talk in th...

Send a text The votes have been counted and Donald Trump has been returned to the White House for a second term.  Voters in the US said the key issue for them was the economy – and whether they felt better off after four years of President Biden. But what does Trump’s re-election mean for the rest of the world? For relations with China, the EU and the rising global south? And for the conflicts in...

Send a text World leaders, CEOs and Climate experts are now heading to Baku for the annual United Nations Climate Change conference  - COP29.    Against a backdrop of increasingly depressing news that warming gases are still accumulating faster than at any time in human history, the plan in Azerbaijan is to consider what now needs to happen next, and who will foot the bill to save the planet. Many...

Send a text China's President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wwere among the world leaders to join Vladimir Putin in Kazan recently for the 2024 BRICS summit. It's the first such gathering since the group added new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. And, if this week's discussions are anything to go by, BRICS is only set to get bi...

Send a text Trade tensions between China and Europe have been in the spotlight this week as the Prime Ministers of both Spain and Norway headed to China. Both Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre held high level meetings, including with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. So what does this tell us about the relations between China and Europe, especially with regard to the pos...

Send a text Esports – or competitive gaming – is the latest member of the Olympic family. Following the first ever World Cup of esports – taking place right now in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this time next year the inaugural Esports Olympics will take place in the same city. Esports is already worth $2.4bn annually, and it’s predicted to grow by 20% a year. So what is behind that growth? How does it al...

Send a text Travel and tourism was of course one of the sectors devastated by Covid – with figures only now returning to pre-pandemic levels.    But the return to normal has not been without its challenges, with protests across Europe as locals complain about overtourism placing an unnecessary burden on local services and pricing them out of their own homes. So has the way we travel going to chang...

Send a text For nearly two weeks, the UK witnessed the most violent social unrest in more than a decade. Triggered it seems by the far-right’s reaction to the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in the town of Southport, the violence  spread to almost thirty towns and cities, with shops looted, hundreds arrested and hotels housing immigrants and mosques attacked. So what does...

Send a text The Farnborough International Air Show is one of the world’s largest. Hundreds of thousands of people descend for the week to examine the very latest technology the aviation industry has to offer. But this year, things were a little different, with much of the talk focused on supply chain issues and the ongoing woes of industry titan Boeing – which made a big statement by deciding not...

Send a text   Reform resolution was the key message from the recent Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. More than 300 reform measures were announced, from deepening reform itself to expanding opening up, promoting high quality innovation at home to making China a first-class business environment for foreign investors. The Third Plenum set out an expansive and inclusive plan fo...