The 292nd Top Management Club Meeting was held at IMM Convention Centre on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7 P.M. The meeting was addressed by H.E. Mr. Roberto Tascano, Ambassador of Italy to India on "Public& Private in the Global Economy: A Diplomat's View". His Excellency, who entered in Italian Foreign Service in 1969, has served in important Diplomatic position in several Countries. H.E. has served as Italian Ambassador to Iran for 5 years. His Excellency arrived in Delhi on 16 August 2008 to assume his function as Ambassador of Italy to India. H.E. has also been visiting Professor in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at University of Pisa. H.E. has also written books on Human Rights policy and Challenges of Ethics in International Relations. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ashok Kumar, Additional Secretary, Min. of External Affairs and Acting Director General, Indian Council of World Affairs, Dr. Jagjit Singh, Founder & Executive President of IMM welcomed H.E. Mr. Roberto Tascano, Mr. Ashok Kumar, delegates, students Alumni, and introduced the Chief Guest to the gathering.

During his presentation on 'Public and Private in Global economy: A Diplomatic View', His Excellency brought out an spectrum of forty years of his diplomatic experiences in a number of countries; when the speaker came in contact with wide range of economic systems.

Chile 1971-74: a contradictory and economically disastrous attempt at building a socialist system (Allende) followed by a totally free market combined with a dictatorship (Pinochet)

• Soviet Union 1975-79: failure and waste in a communist system
  
  
• Spain 1983-87: a liberalizing social democratic formula, combined with joining Europe.
  
  
• US 1987-91: deregulation and neo liberal economics.
  
  
• Iran 2003-2008: mixed system, between non-free-market capitalism and state predominance.

Today, the economic downturn represents a challenge to all economic systems and formulas, since they are all affected, though in different ways and degrees. Will the same challenge produce similar replies?

Will the present crisis promote, if not a total convergence of systems, at least a partial coincidence, eliminating the most radical, ideologically based formulas and introducing a sort of "pragmatism of survival"?

The radical left feels today vindicated in its criticism of capitalism. Yet, historical experiences and economic theory do not support the thesis of a viability, both politically and economically, of a non-market system.

At the same time, the premises of unfettered capitalism (“trickle down”, “end of the business cycle”) have proved illusory.

The hypothesis one can formulate at this stage is that the present economic downturn might contribute to building a sort of international convergence on regulated and ethically acceptable market capitalism, with some basic ingredients:

• rule setting that does not bureaucratize the economy
  
  
• a better definition of the role of the state
  
  
• corporate social responsibility
  
  
• good governance
  
  
• trust
  
  
• long-term scope in nutshell, we might be heading toward a world in which most countries will opt for a public/private balance based on the principle: