Welcome remarks to the 2026 Concordia Annual Summit.

Description to come.

The Amazon rainforest stands at the center of the global climate, biodiversity, and sustainability agenda. This session examines the political, economic, and technological pathways to preserving the Amazon while supporting sustainable development for local and Indigenous communities. Leaders will discuss innovative financing, enforcement mechanisms, corporate accountability, and international cooperation needed to prevent irreversible ecological loss and secure the Amazon’s future.

Description to come.

This fireside discussion with HUD Secretary Scott Turner will explore strategies for expanding affordable housing, reforming homelessness policy, and fostering private sector investment in underserved communities. Through a discussion of innovative approaches, public-private partnerships, and policy leadership, attendees will gain insights into creating sustainable, long-term solutions that address the everyday needs of Americans while strengthening communities and expanding economic opportunity.

For decades, a handful of institutions and a predictable stream of donor dollars quietly financed the world’s development agenda. That model is now breaking down in real time. Traditional aid budgets are shrinking even as global needs keep growing, and new sources of capital, from sovereign wealth to blended and private finance, are stepping in to fill the gap. This session will bring together leaders redefining how development gets financed and delivered, exploring which new models are already changing outcomes on the ground and what it will take to build an architecture built for the years ahead.

Traditional health models focus on the broken brain. This session introduces a new standard: proactive peak performance. Leaders from technology, the military, and science discuss how precision brain health secures the modern workforce, protects the warfighter, and ensures societal resilience in an age of AI. The Center for Brain Health is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

In an era marked by polarization, declining trust, and growing social fragmentation, compassion is emerging as a powerful catalyst for meaningful change. Yet fostering empathy across differences requires more than good intentions: it demands intentional leadership, community engagement, and measurable action. Drawing on insights from the Muhammad Ali Index, the discussion will examine how compassion can be understood, measured, and translated into tangible outcomes that improve civic life.

With public pressure mounting and UN negotiations towards an international legally binding agreement to address plastic pollution underway, the world has an opportunity to forge one of the most consequential environmental agreements in decades. At the same time, the transition to a circular economy is creating new opportunities to redesign products, reduce waste, recycle more, and unlock more resilient and sustainable supply chains. This conversation examines the political, commercial, and cultural forces shaping the future of plastic pollution. The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

The United States is becoming the world�s factory floor for allied capital: Japan, Canada, Germany, South Korea, and the UK are pouring industrial investment into American manufacturing, semiconductors, EVs, and defense, building manufacturing capacity and jobs. With total inbound FDI stock now at $5.7 trillion and bilateral investment agreements with Japan and South Korea accelerating, Washington faces a strategic question: how do you convert allied capital into durable industrial policy outcomes? One Region is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

During most annual physical examinations, every significant organ is attended to � except for the brain. These pioneers predict a future where brain health metrics are as common as blood pressure checks. Explore how the integration of cognitive data into routine primary care will detect risks early, lower long-term costs for insurers, and empower individuals to own their mental longevity.

In a time of shifting global dynamics and continental challenges, Southeast Europe is increasingly cementing its role as a vital anchor of geopolitical stability. This session explores how enhanced diplomatic alignment, economic integration, and strategic cooperation among regional partners contribute to a more secure and resilient Europe. Panelists will discuss the region�s potential to foster dialogue, drive sustainable development, and serve as a reliable bridge between East and West. Crucially, the discussion will highlight how Southeast Europe is safeguarding the continent’s energy security by diversifying supply routes, reducing external vulnerabilities, and protecting critical infrastructure to ensure long-term regional resilience. The Delphi Economic Forum is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

Young leaders are no longer just future stakeholders, they are active diplomatic actors shaping global discourse today. This session highlights the rise of youth diplomacy, from climate negotiations and peacebuilding to technology governance and global entrepreneurship. Participants will explore how institutions can meaningfully integrate youth voices, harness digital diplomacy, and empower the next generation to strengthen international cooperation.

Sughra Hussainy was born in Afghanistan, orphaned as a young girl, and survived the Taliban’s prohibition on art to a global stage at the Smithsonian. Her medium,traditional Afghan calligraphy and illumination, worked in pigments she grinds herself from lapis lazuli and madder root, is among the oldest living art forms in Central Asia, a direct thread to the great Persian manuscript ateliers of the medieval world, a testament to the resilience and beauty of Afghan culture. Shoshana Stewart, President of Turquoise Mountain, and Sughra Hussainy, one of the most celebrated artists to emerge from Turquoise Mountain’s Kabul Institute, will be in conversation about what it means to practice an endangered art form, what is lost when that practice is interrupted by war, and what it takes institutionally, personally, and commercially to keep it alive and pass it on.

In a world of deepening division, sport remains one of the few forces that moves freely across borders, cultures, and political fault lines. But its power as a diplomatic and economic instrument is only beginning to be fully understood. This session brings together the leaders who are putting that power to work, and asks what becomes possible when sport is treated not just as entertainment, but as one of the world’s most effective tools for global engagement.

When armed conflict destroys a mosque in Aleppo, uproots an olive grove in the West Bank, or silences a woodcarver in Kabul, the wound is more than architectural or agricultural. Cultural heritage, buildings, crafts, land, living tradition, is increasingly weaponized in conflict, targeted deliberately to erase identity, fracture communities, and foreclose peace. Yet a new generation of practitioners is proving that preservation is not passive. It is an act of sovereignty, economic development, and conflict resolution. From planting climate-smart olive groves on contested West Bank land, to restoring a historic city quarter in Kabul, to sending protective crates to Ukrainian museums within 24 hours of invasion, this session discusses heritage protection with the on-the-ground actors that are outpacing policy.

This session will explore the shifting balance of power among journalists, lobbyists, and influencers, examining who is most effectively shaping public discourse in an era defined by reach and engagement. Are influencers functioning as journalists, advocates, or de facto lobbyists? Until recently, journalists and lobbyists played defined roles in shaping policy and public opinion, governed by ethical codes and regulatory frameworks. Today’s new media commands audiences that rival major news outlets, yet operates with minimal transparency requirements. Should transparency and disclosure standards apply equally across all platforms? And if influence is measured by reach and engagement, have influencers surpassed traditional media as the primary gatekeepers of political information? The Armenia Project (TAP) is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

Seven in ten refugees are living in long-term displacement, many below the poverty line and reliant on humanitarian aid with no clear pathway forward. The challenge is no longer episodic. It is structural. Yet the frameworks governing response, investment, and international burden-sharing were built for a different era. This session brings together leaders from international institutions, the private sector, and the investment community to examine what durable solutions for displaced communities actually require, how capital and policy can work in concert, and what it will take to move from crisis response to lasting change.

More than 700 million people worldwide still lack access to reliable electricity, and the consequences extend far beyond darkness. For families living at the margins, the absence of light forecloses opportunity: children cannot study after sundown, small businesses cannot extend their hours, and women navigating informal economies have fewer tools to build financial independence. Solar energy, paired with financial literacy training and community-rooted empowerment, has emerged as a proven entry point into economic mobility. In this fireside conversation, Nancy Economou, Founder and CEO of Watts of Love, will share what it has taken to move from isolated impact to systemic change, and what still stands in the way of ending the cycle of generational poverty for good.

As the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary, American cities are becoming increasingly important global centers for dynamic economic growth, successful civic innovation, strengthening community resilience, and engaging globally to attract talent and solutions. This bipartisan conversation with San Diego, California Mayor Todd Gloria and Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Daniel Rickenmann will examine how mayors are bringing together leaders from business, philanthropy, academia, and government to deliver results—from attracting foreign investment and expanding trade to revitalizing communities and advancing climate action. What can America’s cities teach us about the partnerships, leadership, and locally-driven solutions needed to strengthen the country’s global competitiveness and shape its role in the next century?

Ending tuberculosis (TB), the world deadliest infectious disease, will require more than better tests and medicines. It will require addressing the conditions that make people vulnerable to the disease in the first place. Malnutrition is both a driver and a consequence of TB, weakening immunity and increasing risks of TB infection, complicating recovery, and deepening the economic burden on affected families. This panel will explore why and how nutrition can be integrated into TB prevention, treatment, and social protection strategies, and how governments, communities, funders, and the private sector can work together to turn food and nutrition support into a powerful tool for ending TB. The Stop TB Partnership is a programming partner for the 2026 Annual Summit.

AI is no longer on the horizon for higher education. It is already here, and the decisions institutions make today will shape the future of teaching, learning, and opportunity for generations to come. Higher education has always been where the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and innovators are shaped, and AI is fundamentally changing what that responsibility looks like. In this session, industry and academia leaders explore what thoughtful AI adoption really looks like, the hard questions, the responsible choices, and what it means to prepare students not just for the workforce of today, but for a future that is still being written. What does it mean to educate the next generation when the tools, the rules, and the world itself are still being defined?

AI is restructuring labor markets, remote infrastructure is untethering talent from geography, and entrepreneurship is emerging as the dominant path to economic mobility across sectors and generations. Yet access to capital, networks, and institutional support remains deeply uneven. This session brings together leaders across business, policy, and education to examine how the architecture of work is being rebuilt, what conditions are producing the next generation of founders and career innovators, who has access to the tools and capital needed to succeed, and what governments and institutions must do to ensure the transition benefits more than the few already positioned to lead it.

One year after examining American views of the United Nations, Gallup returns with new insights into the broader state of public trust. This conversation will explore how confidence in global leadership has evolved, the implications for international cooperation, and what leaders across sectors must do to strengthen public legitimacy in an increasingly fragmented world.