NEW YORK, September 22 — Nearly one hundred former heads of state and government, drawn from every continent and across political traditions, issued a joint call on September 21 for current leaders to renew international cooperation grounded in common principles and to turn those principles into concrete results. The statement, released in New York, forms part of the wider Principles of Cooperation initiative, developed over the past year through The Rockefeller Foundation’s Build the Shared Future effort.
It builds on dialogues convened in communities around the world and is designed to foster a more equitable partnership between the Global North and South.
A coalition of former leaders
The initiative draws on global polling into public attitudes toward cooperation, consultations with think tanks, civil society and the private sector across regions, and engagement with former leaders. Its architects describe it as an attempt to build broad, cross-regional ownership around a common foundation for future cooperation and a practical agenda for collective action. The signatories underscored that today’s challenges — from conflict, climate change and pandemics to inequality, migration and transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence — require not more unilateral responses, but better international cooperation.
They framed that cooperation as grounded in human dignity, the rule of law and mutual respect, honoring sovereignty while recognizing interdependence, and delivering tangible benefits for people and communities. In the statement, the former leaders welcome the purpose and ambition of the initiative and call on current leaders to engage with and shape it, to build a framework for cooperation on this basis, and to translate it into practical action.
The signatories also commit to lend their experience and support to the effort.
Polling finds public demand persists
The call comes as new global polling suggests that, despite rising nationalism, populism and isolationism, public demand for international cooperation remains strong. A survey conducted by Focaldata with support from The Rockefeller Foundation in association with its public charity, RFCC, found that 57% of people across 34 countries agree that their country should cooperate with other countries to solve global challenges, even if it means compromising on some national interests.
In every country surveyed, a majority said they would support their country’s leader publicly endorsing a shared set of principles for international cooperation alongside other current and former world leaders. More than 80% of respondents supported including commitments to ensure that all human beings can live with dignity and to take collective action on threats to life, peace and security.
“Even amid multiplying threats and growing pessimism, most people around the world still want to work together to solve problems. Leaders should listen,” said Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation.
“These former leaders are showing us how: seeking the common ground new polling shows exists. The Rockefeller Foundation looks forward to working with all those who want to take risks and build new coalitions to tackle the toughest challenges facing humanity.”
Brown cites ‘remarkable common ground’
“We know that, even in a divided world, there is remarkable common ground — with a clear majority in every continent including the United States — committed to the need for cooperation and the principles that should underpin it,” said The Rt. Honorable Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and member of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “At 57% in favor to just 10% against, we find that a decisive majority want leaders to support shared principles around cooperation,” Brown said.
“What we have now set out is a statement on the principles of cooperation, as an important step toward turning that common ground into a stronger basis for cooperation — for leaders around the world to engage with, shape and ultimately put into practice.” “The world does not need us to agree on everything. It needs us to find enough common ground to act together.
From across regions and political traditions, nearly 100 former heads of state and government are sending a clear message: in a fragmented world, we must choose cooperation over confrontation. The challenges of our time demand nothing less,” said Laura Chinchilla, former President of Costa Rica and President of Club de Madrid. “The challenges confronting our world do not stop at national borders, and neither can our responsibility to address them.
We may differ in our histories, our politics and our perspectives, but we must not allow those differences to prevent us from working together,” said Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and Member of Club de Madrid.
“At a time when trust in international cooperation is being tested, this broad coalition of former leaders sends a simple message: dialogue remains possible, common ground can be found, and cooperation remains essential to building a more peaceful and prosperous future.” What is at stake, in the corridors of the initiative’s organizers, is whether the statement becomes a working framework or remains a declaration. The former leaders have asked current heads of state and government to engage with and shape the principles, and to put them into practice.
Whether any sitting leader takes up that invitation is the question the coming months will answer.
