Address by Jock Mendoza-Wilson to Mariupol State University

Dear Rector Balabanov, Deputy Mayor Metrafanov and honoured faculty, students and guests.  

Thank you for your very kind words of introduction. This is a great honour which you have bestowed on me today.  And I can only express simply my deep and heartfelt thanks for this recognition.  However, I see it not primarily as recognition for my actions, but rather as recognition of the active participation and support of this University and the city of Mariupol from System Capital Management. This is indeed one of the proudest moments of my career and thank you very much for awarding me the diploma of a Honourary Professor of this University.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the University on the 20th anniversary of its founding and in particular, to Rector Balabanov and his talented team here for the exceptional journey that the University has taken to date - from College, to University, to becoming the first Ukrainian signatory of the Bologna Charter. This is a remarkable achievement over a relatively short period of time and I am certain that further opportunities remain to be seized by the University.

I would like to share with you today a few words on my specialist area of economics, trade and international relations.

When I received Rector Balabanov’s invitation to this degree ceremony, I was in Morocco, in the ancient city of Marrakesh, at the United Nations anti corruption conference. Here nation states, business and civil society meet to agree, report and discuss the question of policy, at government and business level, to tackle corruption. 

It was appropriate as our brief discussion and our respective locations reflected the current zeitgeist.  We are living in a digital, visual, globalised, interconnected age. We are also, living through a revolution in business, economics and international relations which is being driven by communications and our inter dependency in all of its forms. It is exemplified by the very detail of our mutual interconnectedness as citizens, nations and economies from Mariupol to Manhattan and from Murmansk to Madrid.  

The development of international relations and global economic interdependence is inextricably linked to the successive revolutions in communications.  This began back in the end of the middle ages with the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg.  At last information, knowledge and opinion could be distributed widely, and through time at increasingly affordable costs, until by the turn of the 19th century the average working person could afford to buy, and was sufficiently educated, to read a news paper.  Now in the 21st century we have the internet with news and knowledge available instantly, globally, and of course we have the rise of social networks and digital communications. We can even learn and study remotely should we wish.

Our ability to both communicate and travel relatively freely and affordably may later be noted by historians as a key point in history. Mariupol State University is part of this international revolution. More than 500 MSU graduates already successfully work and study abroad in more than 20 countries of the world and many more of you here today will follow them.

The world has gone through many changes in the past 20 years including Ukraine’s independence and the breakdown of the Soviet Union.  Today we share essentially common European values and history.... that is despite me coming from the very west of out continent and this city being closer to the east. 

We are also at historical cross roads in term of economic power and influence. This is a waining of the power of the north and west, driven in recent years by USA and Europe (and more recently the EU) and the rise now of the east and south.   We see the rise of China and fast growing economies of South East Asia  and Brazil, Mexico and Africa, while to the West and North we see the relative decline in the US and  Europe (and in particular, what we might call “old Europe”  – including the current crisis in the Euro zone). China has risen already to become the world’s second largest economy, while its demand and GDP growth are crucial to the prospects of continued economic recovery in the US and Europe.... including Ukraine.

This dramatic change in economic power will define the direction of social and economic development for the next 200 years - and very possibly beyond - with the rise of the Middle kingdom, China, to a position of global economic leadership.... and possibly dominance. But what will be Ukraine’s route given the seismic change in the global economic order?

This is a key question for the success of the country and for the prospects of this city, and the future of the students of this University.  The city is both an industrial city and a port city with a great history in trade.  The rise of globalisation and cross border trade creates opportunities of a city and university which themselves both look international for development and growth.   Very often economists and bankers talk of the fast growing BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa.... but to that list in the future we could be able to add Ukraine.  This will require reform of the economy, its regulatory framework and of buerocracy to reach international standards.  It will require increasing integration with neighbouring countries both to the east to Russian, and to the west to the European Union, as well as across the Black Sea to Turkey and beyond Greece.  But most of all, the future success of the country will require talented, well educated people with the skills to help Ukraine prosper and compete in the global economy where knowledge, the ability to continue to learn and to innovate, will be the hallmarks of success.  

As ever, it will be education that delivers the knowledge, and skills and which will fire the ambition for people to be successful and help them fulfil their talent and aspirations.   I am sure that the Rector and Faculty of Mariupol State University will continue to provide that inspiration for generations of students to come.  Thank you.