(World Government Summit, Dubai) — This is the first major international conference since the election of Donald Trump and it is clear that the shifting political landscape in the United States is shaping the conversation here in the Middle East.

In a keynote address Secretary General Antonio Guterres implicitly referenced the political upheaval in the United States and elsewhere citing what he called a “deficit of trust” between people and their institutions.

“Reform is needed to reconcile people with political establishments,” he said. “We need to be able to empower citizens and young people.” Globalization, he said, had created a gap of confidence between governments and people left behind in a changing world. “Globalization’s losers” he called them, “in the rust belts of the world.”