The world market for illegal drugs-some $150 billion retail, involving some 200 million users-is the world's largest illicit market. It is a huge market even in relative terms: about half the size of the pharmaceuticals market, and close to the tobacco and alcohol market.

The new world economy force demands more attention to the labor rules national economies apply-as they ineract more and more with eachother. The demographic force throws in a series of migration-related issues. It is hard to imagine the world twenty years from now not having some sort of global labor market rules in place-because such a market is clearly in the making.

The protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has changed over the last two decades from an obscure national regulaiton issue to a hotly debated global issue. It's a very complex issue to summarize, as there are quite a few strands. These strands should give a sense of the urgency of moving to global solutions fpr this complex issue of IPRs.

This complex issue has subparts. Simplifying a bit, four main areas require stepped-up global problem-solving: managing international financial crises, strnghtening financial systems at large, dealing with financial abuse, and preparing for the future consequences of e-money.

During he 1990s, natural disasters-floods, groughts, earthquakes, storms, strong winds, torrential rais, and muudslides-hit the world 500-800 times a year and cost more than $600 billion, more than in the previous four decades combined. Losses in the 1990s were three times those in the 1908s and fifteen times those of the 1950s.