On the sidelines of the inaugural Europe Gulf Forum in Costa Navarino, Greece, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva spoke with Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe.
Georgieva shared her views on how the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz compares to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of economic fallout, as well as what European and Gulf States stand to gain by deepening their cooperation. She also discussed how artificial intelligence risks creating a new world of “winners” and “losers.”
The Europe Gulf Forum was hosted by the Antenna Group, in partnership with the Atlantic Council, on May 15-17, 2026.
Transcript
FREDERICK KEMPE: Welcome to Costa Navarino in Greece, a beautiful setting for a very timely conference, the Europe Gulf Forum. It’s just such a pleasure that we’re here with the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva. We had a rich morning of discussions. They’re off the record, so we won’t reveal the private conversations and who said what. But yet there were some surprising observations and I’m just wondering what you took away from the morning here.
