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It's not the Munich Security Conference as we know it - but at least the “Road to Munich 2021”.
In a virtual setting, political and business leaders discuss international security issues, political developments and the fight against global crises.
The actual conference should be rescheduled later in the year.
Until then, there will be enough work, as was clear from the contributions of many top-class guests.
US President Joe Biden is providing a premiere.
He was already personally present at security conferences, but most recently in an official capacity as VIze President Barack Obamas.
This year, Biden joins in virtually - as the first incumbent US president ever to give his first speech to a European audience.
"In too many places, including Europe and the USA, the democratic process is under attack," said Biden's speech, which was also published in advance.
“Historians will analyze and write about this moment.
It's a turning point. "Alluding to a statement he made at the conference in 2018, Biden said at the beginning of his speech:" I'm sending a clear message to the world: The US is back! "
Biden described the United States' partnership with Europe as the "cornerstone" of American foreign policy.
He firmly believes "that democracy must prevail," emphasized Biden.
One of the greatest efforts is a "long-term competition with China" - together you can win the "race for the future".
One must act against forces that want to "normalize oppression".
Russia is one of them - the Kremlin wants to undermine the transatlantic community.
But it is "no longer about East versus West".
They don't want a conflict, but a future in which “all nations can determine their own situation.
We can't go back to a block world like the Cold War.
For example, we have to work together if we want to eradicate Covid-19. "
Change of course - not only with Corona
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Biden emphasized the importance of the "partnership" between Europe and the USA.
One will work closely with the allies - "if there are any doubts, I would like to dispel them." instead of peeling off parts of it.
Markus Söder (CSU) started with a greeting.
Then UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made a plea.
The pandemic has crystallized "weaknesses" within the international community that need to be addressed.
2021 must be the year in which a change of course will succeed - not only in the pandemic, but also, for example, on issues relating to climate change, new technologies or women's rights.
He also reiterated his call for a global vaccination task force to be set up to make vaccines available to all countries as soon as possible.
A fair distribution of the vaccines is "crucial to saving human lives and economies".
The countries would have to pass on excess vaccine doses and provide the 6.8 billion dollars required for the Covax initiative, he said.
Global production capacities would also have to be "at least" doubled.
This requires the transfer of licenses and technology transfer.
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In view of the impending climate catastrophe, Guterres called on the international community to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Countries that together cause over 65 percent of emissions and have a share of over 70 percent in the global economy have already committed to climate neutrality, he said.
"Let us expand this alliance to 90 percent by the Glasgow climate conference in November," demanded Guterres in his speech.
To this end, concrete steps should be taken immediately, such as pricing CO2 emissions, stopping subsidies and funding for coal and other fossil fuels, and investments in renewable energies.
Climate neutrality means that a country or company compensates for emissions that are harmful to the climate - not that it no longer produces any emissions that are harmful to the climate.
Bill Gates emphasizes that Corona continues to pose major challenges for the global community
The 2021 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow will be about how states can step up their efforts to achieve the goals agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement.
In the agreement, the signatories agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era.
The promises made since then are nowhere near enough to achieve the self-imposed goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees compared to the pre-industrial age.
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Microsoft founder Bill Gates, meanwhile co-chairman of his foundation run together with his wife, joined the tenor of the UN Secretary General.
Although technical progress in particular made successes in the fight against the pandemic possible, the pandemic continues to pose major challenges for the global community.
The world will soon have to invest billions in preparation for the next pandemic in order to avoid another "tragedy" like the one with the coronavirus.
It's about making sure "that never happens again," Gates.
There would have to be both capacities for the production of vaccines and a permanent team of around 3,000 experts and researchers who could be deployed immediately in the fight to contain the next pandemic.
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, switched back to Munich a year after his warning of the corona crisis, which was only just beginning to appear at the time.
The vaccines give hope, but for the vaccines to work, governments and manufacturers must work together to ensure vaccination fairness.
Otherwise, sooner or later you might be “back to the very beginning” if the virus continues to mutate if the spread of the virus is insufficiently contained in countries with vaccine shortages.
"The virus cannot be defeated without global solidarity," warned Ghebreyesus.
The Munich Security Conference has been the most important forum for international security policy for more than 50 years.
Hundreds of participants, including numerous heads of state and government as well as foreign and defense ministers, usually travel to the conference, which lasts several days.