Financing Gaza’s reconstruction: a framework for mobilising private sector investment

We were proud to convene the UK summit on Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction last week, following the ceasefire announcement.

The conference gathered a coalition of representatives from businesses, civil society and governments, to discuss crucial planning and coordination efforts for postwar Gaza.

We welcomed Hamish Falconer MP, Minister for the Middle East and Africa alongside a range of international partners including the Palestinian Authority, the Government of Egypt, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as private sector and international development finance and financiers, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank.

This dialogue was a vital opportunity to build the momentum and vision required for lasting progress.

Click here to read the statement from the Prime Minister

Click here to read the the communiqué from the co-hosts of the conference: the Governments of the UK, Palestine and Egypt.

Multilateral trade in 2025

A stable multilateral trading system is key to global economic growth and prosperity. The challenges facing the system and the need for reform are widely recognised but there remains a gap around clear and practical solutions.

We were delighted to welcome Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, and Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State at the Department for Business and Trade, as speakers.

The event helped to deepen understanding of what would be needed from a multilateral trading system of the future. It surfaced ideas for the reforms needed to achieve that vision and for what a process to gaining support could involve.

Upcoming events

The future of development finance

The UK’s relationship with emerging markets and developing economies is transitioning to one of investment and partnership, with a focus on economic development. Against this backdrop, development finance has an important role to play in supporting transformative growth.

This event will convene development finance thought leaders to discuss the key trends and opportunities for innovation. It will provide a forum for taking forward UK ambitions on scaling investment in climate and deepening its partnerships in frontier markets.

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Tailoring Deterrence in the High North

This conference will aim to promote understanding and agreement on three key questions among the Nordic states and the UK in the context of an evolving Russian doctrine for the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons:

• Does NATO have what it needs to alter Russian calculations around nuclear weapon use today and in the future?
• What is the task for NATO nuclear weapons in a future regional conflict with Russia?
• What levers would be most effective in targeting Russian strategy for nuclear use in a regional conflict?

These questions will have a High North focus, expanding geographically on last year’s event.

Changing the narrative: preparing for peace: a multi stakeholder dialogue and plan of action

Wilton Park was a partner this month in the 2025 Global Ethics Forum in Geneva, building on our recent series of dialogues with faith leaders working with The British Embassy to the Holy See, Globethics and the UN-OHCHR Faiths for Rights Initiative. Our senior Programme Director, Alison Hilliard, chaired the track on promoting inclusive peace.

Discussions explored the need for a new alliance of faith actors, parliamentarians and peacemakers to come together to counter current narratives of polarisation and dehumanisation of ‘the other’.

Two award winning peace activists from Israel and Palestine, Ghadir Hani and Dror Rubin, shared the stories of Jewish and Arab women waging peace amidst war. They celebrated the ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages as a moment to recommit to peace and to reconsider the pain each side has suffered. Their message: “If we lose the ability to hold the pain of both sides, we lose hope and the chance of ever living side by side.”

Protecting health in a changing climate

Momentum at the intersection of climate and health has grown quickly since COP26, with strong frameworks for action now in place. These must be implemented at scale and pace if we are to protect people’s health in the face of climate change and ensure the health sector contributes to both mitigation and adaptation goals.

This Wilton Park event was supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust, and held in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Brazil and with additional support from Rockefeller Foundation.

It built on the 2025 Global Conference on Climate and Health, hosted by Brazil in July. The discussions focused on how best to mobilise resources to protect and improve health in the face of climate change, including for the Belém Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation in the Health Sector.

Look ahead

Promoting empathy in adolescence: creating engaged global citizens and enabling more peaceful, inclusive societies

Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, is a key skill for adolescent development, driving social connectedness, promoting wellbeing, employability and educational attainment.

However, recent evidence, shows that the rates of empathic response among young people globally may be declining. Worldwide, ideological polarisation and social tensions are apparent with a marked increase in hate speech, violence, and intolerance alongside a growth in polarised societies and extremism.

Promoting empathy as a core skill and behaviour is increasingly put forward as a practical antidote to such problems, reducing the level of bullying, hatred and intolerance. This global conversation will focus on strategies to promote empathy in order to create engaged global citizens and more peaceful societies alongside improved well-being and mental health with young people more ready to forge paths through adulthood, in work, life attainment, and as active agents of social justice in their communities.

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