Following the news over the festive period made me think. Where is our world going? We have hit rock bottom on the financial markets, many companies around the world have closed their doors and put millions of people out of work; new conflicts have started and have already claimed hundreds of deaths. Is this the picture we want from a new 2009?

I recall the end of the 20^th century when everyone was talking about the new 21^st century, a new era of peace, knowledge and prosperous development for everybody. Although we did prosper for a while, our leaders managed to give us this false sense of security, "everything is fine", they said!

Today, it is the businesses that are building the bridges of our future that will prosper because more and more people are learning to work together across borders, where ever they are coming from- not our politicians or the media!

Look at China and India which are growing at exponential rates. The effort they put into understanding our various cultures and into creating, building and then selling to us the products we consume on a daily basis. They have created networks that will prosper because of the in-depth relationships that they develop prior to doing business, real sustainable relationships.

I see the future changing for the best once we have realised that understanding the cultures of our neighbours will help us to build a new world, where people will take full responsibility for their actions.

Otherwise, we risk to be assimilated into one big melting pot with no identity.