On October 26, 2021, CEBRI held a closed-door meeting to discuss the topic "Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and multilateral governance", with experts from GIBSA (Germany, India, Brazil, South Africa) member organizations.

The meeting was the first warm-up event for the GIBSA 2022 conference, which will be held in person in Brazil and will address the topic "The post-Covid World: challenges in a transforming global order". The GIBSA Strategic 'Quadriologue' is a partnership established in 2007 between GIBSA's member organizations. It aims to promote dialogue and joint reflection based on the views of Brazil, South Africa, Germany and India, on different topics within the realm of international relations. The main objective is to promote cooperation based on mutual interests and points of convergence. In addition to CEBRI, the member organizations of GIBSA are the German Institute for International and Security Affairs - SWP (Germany), the Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies - IPCS (India) and the Institute for Security Studies - ISS (South Africa), with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Some of the issues discussed were:

• How have new technologies been used to improve governmental responses to the pandemic? What are the risks involved? (e.g. data protection, personal rights). Does this generally change the quality and scope of government services?
• What are the main challenges presented by Covid-19 to democratic governance in GIBSA countries and in multilateral forums?
• How could GIBSA countries work to mitigate the socioeconomic inequalities within and across countries, which were worsened by the pandemic?
• How have the geopolitics of the vaccine impacted the national and multilateral responses to the pandemic?
• How has the pandemic affected the governance of global supply chains and critical supplies?