International business leaders, together with governments and climate specialists, have drawn up a comprehensive set of business recommendations on a post-2012 framework for global climate policy. The “CEO Climate Policy Recommendations to G8 Leaders” will help inform G8 leaders’ climate change discussions at their Hokkaido-Toyako summit this July.

The Summit on the Global Agenda is a new, unique gathering of the world’s most influential thinkers – leaders from academia, business, government and society. This inaugural Summit of the members of the Forum’s Global Agenda Councils, the world's foremost intelligence and knowledge network, will be held in partnership with the Government of Dubai on 7-9 November 2008.

Food security, geopolitical instability, economic shocks and climate change all threaten Africa’s development, according to the Africa@Risk report. Released on the occasion of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, the report features the latest insights into trends, potential consequences and mitigation relevant to these four key risks facing Africa.

Denmark is the most networked economy in the world, followed by Sweden and Switzerland, according to findings of the recently released “Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008”. Among the top 10, the Republic of Korea (9) and, to a lesser extent, the United States (4), post the most notable improvements.

Mexico's Competitiveness
At the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Cancún, Mexico, the Forum presented a “White Paper on Assessing the Foundations of Mexico's Competitiveness: Findings from the Global Competitiveness Index 2007-2008”.

Ukraine's Competitiveness
In line with the efforts to identify effective policies and strategies that will improve a country’s economic and social development, the World Economic Forum has launched the first Ukraine Competitiveness Report.

US President George W. Bush was among 1,500 political and business leaders welcomed by President Mubarak of Egypt at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. The meeting in Sharm El Sheikh concluded with a call for accelerated political and economic reform to ensure that the region achieves its full potential, converting rising oil wealth into skilled human capital and turning the region’s disparities into entrepreneurial opportunities.

Around 500 leaders from business, government – including eight heads of state – and civil society, representing more than 40 countries, evaluated the latest trends and changes in the global economy, the regional political arena, trade relations between Asia and Latin America, as well as developments affecting investment to stimulate regional growth and the search for innovation in business and social affairs at the World Economic Forum on Latin America.

World Economic Forum on Africa
Cape Town, South Africa 4-6 June 2008


World Economic Forum Russia CEO Roundtable
St Petersburg, Russian Federation 6-8 June 2008


World Economic Forum on East Asia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 15-16 June 2008


Annual Meeting of the New Champions
"Summer Davos"
Tianjin , People's Republic of China 25-27 September 2008

World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia
Istanbul, Turkey 30 October - 1 November 2008

The recommendations will be received by the Japanese government just ahead of the G8 Summit. The statement is the result of 16 months of high-level consultation among senior CEOs – Industry Partners of the Forum – from a range of companies and countries. The statement is currently being circulated among a wider group of Forum Partner firms; it invites their CEOs to join the endorsing group.

The CEO statement is international businesses’ input to the G20 Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development. It is a pragmatic and practical leader-level document that contains clear messages and suggestions on issues of mitigation, technology, finance and adaptation. It also outlines ideas on long-term and intermediate international goals and supports bold action from the leaders of the major economies.

The steering group of CEOs includes: Alcoa (USA), AIG (USA), Applied Materials (USA), Basic Element (Russian Federation), British Airways (UK), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Duke Energy (USA), Electricité de France (EdF) (France), Eskom (South Africa), Petrobras (Brazil), RusHydro (Russian Federation), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), Telstra (Australia), Tokyo Electric Power (Japan), TNT (Netherlands), Vattenfall (Sweden).

The process was coordinated by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The Pew Centre on Global Climate Change served as a resource partner. For more information, please contact gleneagles@weforum.org

The Summit on the Global Agenda is a new, unique gathering of the world's most influential thinkers – leaders from academia, business, government and society. Its purpose is to group these leaders around issues to explore solutions to critical challenges facing humanity. This inaugural Summit of the members of the Forum's Global Agenda Councils, the world's foremost intelligence and knowledge network, will be held in partnership with the Government of Dubai on 7-9 November 2008.

“The World Economic Forum's Network of Global Agenda Councils represents a transformational innovation in global governance,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Forum. “The inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai is a unique opportunity for the world's most innovative and influential thinkers to share ideas and collaboratively develop solutions to address some of the most pressing issues on the global agenda.”

During the three-day Summit, the 700 participants of this interdisciplinary event will engage in interactive workshops and sessions to set priorities for improving the state of the world, from groundbreaking areas of research to new and exciting developments and cross-cutting solutions to address the world's challenges. The outcomes of the Summit will be presented and discussed at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos.

A report entitled “Preventing Non-communicable Diseases in the Work Place Through Diet and Physical Activity ” highlights the results of a joint event between the World Economic Forum and World Health Organization. It focuses on the need to tackle the causes of chronic diseases in the workplace. The full report was presented in the lead-up to the 61st World Health Assembly in Geneva , Switzerland.

Chronic disease, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease, is responsible for more than 60% of all deaths globally and is projected to account for 47 million deaths annually in the next 25 years. Almost half of those who die from chronic diseases are in their productive years. Productivity reduction and increase in costs caused by these non-communicable diseases are among many dire economic consequences of the problem which is growing fastest in low- and middle-income countries.

At the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos, 16 global CEOs made a call to action to strengthen commitment to employee wellness in the workplace on a worldwide scale. ArcelorMittal, Becton Dickinson, BT Group, Discovery Holdings, Eskom, General Mills, Humana, Nestlé, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PepsiCo, Pitney Bowes and Unilever were among the multinational companies pledging action.

In many countries around the world, a rapidly ageing population is putting severe pressure on pension and healthcare systems. The UN expects that by 2050, the old-age dependency ratio at a global level will have more than doubled; from 11 elderly persons per 100 working age persons in 2007, to 25 elderly persons per 100 working age persons in 2050.

These challenging future scenarios evolve differently with varying sets of drivers of change for the landscape of access to and delivery of pensions in 2030. The project has cumulatively involved more than 190 participants, representing over 65 financial institutions and healthcare companies, and over 40 non-business organizations such as academic institutions and government ministries.

The first phase of the FDS project includes an overview of strategic options for stakeholders, including governments, financial institutions, healthcare providers, employers and individuals. Given great interest in further exploring the strategic options that draw from global best practices, a second phase is planned to start in July and run into 2009.

Food security, geopolitical instability, economic shocks and climate change all threaten Africa 's development, according to the Africa@ Risk report. Released on the occasion of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town , South Africa , the report features the latest insights into trends, potential consequences and mitigation relevant to these four key risks facing Africa:

1. Food and Freshwater Security – How best can Africa cope with increasing food and freshwater insecurity? What are the risks and opportunities for the region?

2. Geopolitical Instability – Can Africa sustain and consolidate progress on transparent and democratically accountable governance? Can it increase its institutional capacity to prevent, manage and resolve both intrastate and interstate conflict?

3. Economic Shocks – Can African resource rich countries reduce their commodity dependency by diversifying their economies? How can wealth be better distributed? How can African countries increase their trade benefits?

4. Climate Change, the Environment and Challenges to Africa 's Development – How will global warming affect Africa ? How best can the region, countries, businesses and communities adapt to mitigate its effects?

In preparing this report, more than 20 experts from business, academia, non-governmental organizations and civil society were asked to consider the drivers of the recent period of unprecedented growth in Africa and the opportunities that exist, as well as the threats to Africa's continuing progress. The report concludes that for Africa – a continent characterized by huge opportunities and ever-increasing regional and global interdependence – the imperative is for collective action to mitigate these shared risks.

Published for the seventh consecutive year with record coverage of 127 economies, the report has become the world's most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

Under the theme “Fostering Innovation through Networked Readiness”, this year's report gave emphasis to the role of networked readiness in spurring innovation through topics covered in the chapters. The report aims at providing a neutral platform for public-private dialogue on how to increasingly leverage ICT for improving competitiveness and furthering economic development.

You can access most of the data appearing in the report at: www.weforum.org/gitr

Assessing the foundations of Mexico 's competitiveness
At the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Cancún , Mexico , the Forum presented a “White Paper on Assessing the Foundations of Mexico's Competitiveness: Findings from the Global Competitiveness Index 2007-2008”. This study offers a comprehensive snapshot of Mexico 's competitive landscape and suggests areas that should be given priority in the design of a national competitiveness strategy. It provides a detailed assessment of Mexico 's performance in the different pillars of competitiveness, with a special focus on those factors considered crucial for the country given its stage of development.

To download the White Paper, visit: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Latin_America/Mexico2008.pdf

The Ukraine Competitiveness Report 2008
In line with the efforts to identify effective policies and strategies that will improve a country's economic and social development, the World Economic Forum has launched the first Ukraine Competitiveness Report. This country-specific study aims at providing a comprehensive account of Ukraine 's competitive landscape. In addition to benchmarking Ukraine 's country performance, the report takes a detailed look at 12 of the country's regions to help understand the country's regional diversity and to examine the different challenges the regions face in achieving lasting prosperity.

To download the report, visit: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/Ukraine.pdf

Upcoming Reports
- The Global Enabling Trade Report 2008 (18 June)
- The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 (8 October)
- The Gender Gap Report (12 November)

The region’s current priorities, including fighting inflation, political stability, Iraq and the role of sovereign wealth funds, topped the agenda. Leaders from various stakeholders met to build consensus on required action needed to address these issues. Under the theme “Learning from the Future”, participants were encouraged to look beyond the 2008 agenda to examine the longer term global trends that will impact the region’s future.

A special series of sessions built around three global scenarios illuminated both the challenges and opportunities for the next generation, and the adjustments that need to be made today to account for them. Building on the theme of the region’s future, the Forum worked with the British Council to identify leaders from the region’s predominantly young population to share their aspirations and concerns with participants. Palestinian, Egyptian and Saudi representatives joined the closing plenary with the Co-Chairs and Prime Minister Nazif of Egypt. This panel concluded that the quest for a lasting agreement between Palestinians and Israelis should no longer be used as a pretext for rejecting change. Creating jobs for the region’s increasingly young population remains the top priority, participants said, but so does ensuring that the region’s young have the skills to take those jobs.

Outcomes included:

• First Ladies Laura Bush and Suzanne Mubarak celebrated the Egyptian Education Initiative which is set to expand internationally. In schools and universities across Egypt, 40,000 computers have been deployed, more than 185,000 trainings have been delivered, and 2,000 schools, 17 universities and 400 centres were impacted by the EEI.

• Fifty influential female and male leaders formed a Middle East Gender Parity Group to tackle discrimination and close the gap between the sexes. This is the Middle East’s first high-level group of both female and male decision-makers working together to achieve gender equality in the workplace, education, politics and health, and to better engage the talent of the region’s female population.

• Sherif El Ghamrawy, Founder of Basata Ecolodge, a social business, and the complementary non-profit, Hemaya, was awarded Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Egypt. Zeinab Al Momani, Founder and Chairwoman of the Sakrah Women’s Cooperative, was awarded the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Jordan.

• The Scenario Series concluded with action items to realize the best possible outcome for the Middle East by 2025. For the Sustainable World, leaders agreed that the sustainability issue needs to be placed at the heart of the business agenda. In the Multipolar World, participants noted that the supremacy of the security institutions in policymaking needed to be minimized. The creation of a strong middle class to support economic growth would be a counter balance. In a Hyperlinked World, leaders prioritized overhauling the primary and secondary education systems through targeted strategic investments.

Please visit http://www.weforum.org/middleeast2008 for more details, including the final report and session summaries.

Around 500 leaders from business, government – including eight heads of state – and civil society, representing more than 40 countries, evaluated the latest trends and changes in the global economy, the regional political arena, trade relations between Asia and Latin America, as well as developments affecting investment to stimulate regional growth and the search for innovation in business and social affairs.

Highlights included:

• Education identified as the main concern for Latin America. Constructing values and skills-driven education systems should be top priority for the region.

• The impact of high food and oil prices. Central American leaders warned that the high prices could undo recent socioeconomic gains their nations have made.

• Launch of the Mexico Competitiveness Report in collaboration with the Centre for International Development and Harvard University.

• The Latin America Question. For the first time in the region, the wider public contributed by answering the Latin America Question: what key action do you think countries, companies or individuals should take to make Latin America a better place in 2008?

• Margarita Barney, Founder of the Group to Promote Education and Sustainable Development (GRUPEDSAC), was awarded Social Entrepreneur 2008 in Mexico at the closing plenary of the World Economic Forum on Latin America. GRUPEDSAC disseminates technologies that help address the lack of water, food insecurity, rural migration and inadequate housing. The other two finalists were Cecilio Solis Librado, Founder of the Red Indigena de Turismo and Alicia Leal, Alternativas Pacíficas.

Please visit http://www.weforum.org/latinamerica2008 for more details, including the final report and session summaries.

Over 700 decision-makers from government, business and civil society will meet in Cape Town to devise ways to address Africa's strategic challenges: from a review of the latest initiatives to tackle the business climate and physical and social infrastructure, to an introduction of the new leaders in the region and insight into their priorities for tomorrow. The 18th World Economic Forum on Africa comes at an exciting time of economic growth which continues at a relentless pace – four consecutive years at 5% or more; even the oil importing countries are doing well. With the US slowdown and slower growth forecast in the East, seasoned investors are increasingly turning to Africa for returns. Global businesses are buying African assets and setting up in a region that many call the last frontier. While this may augur well for Africa’s growth, the continent’s prosperity depends on how it capitalizes on these opportunities.

The Co-Chairs are:
Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Nigeria
E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, USA
Wendy Luhabe, Chairperson, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa
Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman, Dubai World, United Arab Emirates.

The Co-Chairs are:
Wulf H. Bernotat, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, E.ON, Germany
Muhtar A. Kent, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, USA

World Economic Forum on East Asia 2008
Responding to New Uncertainties
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 15-16 June

The 17th World Economic Forum on East Asia returns to Malaysia where 300 leaders from over 20 countries will convene to debate the challenges and priorities that will ultimately shape the region’s future agenda. Participants will explore two fundamental assumptions. The first is that a global shift in power and influence is occurring whereby the lead actors are not transatlantic in origin but Asian-Pacific. How will change be managed between nations as well as within key institutions to adapt to this shift?

The second is that Asia is able and willing to assume the global leadership responsibilities that will flow from this shifting power equation.

The Co-Chairs are:
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé, Switzerland
Jamshyd N. Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce, India
Takao Kusakari, Chairman, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), Japan
Lord Levene, Chairman, Lloyd's, United Kingdom
Ralph Peterson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CH2M HILL Companies, USA

Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2008
“Summer Davos”
Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 25-27 September

Despite uncertain prospects for the global economy, many companies, regions and industries remain poised not only to continue their robust growth, but to thrive in an increasingly challenging business environment. Indeed, the world is full of opportunities, and those leaders who systematically concentrate on these opportunities are the ones who will prosper.

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2008 provides a unique platform for those seeking new opportunities to shape and define an agenda of growth with fresh ideas, innovative business models and new technologies, in spite of prevailing macroeconomic conditions. CEOs of Foundation and Global Growth Company Members will engage with a diverse group of the most important players shaping this future of business and the global agenda including:

• Forward-thinking leaders of regions, mayors of cities and the youngest cabinet ministers from leading nations of the world, who will be key actors in the global economies of the future

• CEOs from the most successful Technology Pioneer companies and the world’s best and brightest young scientists whose technological prowess and research is rapidly reshaping industries and improving efficiency and creating new value

• Champions from the Forum’s community of Young Global Leaders, representing a new generation of leaders from all sectors and regions around the world who are challenging conventional wisdom and providing alternatives to classical approaches to marketing, branding, design and leadership

• Leaders of the Web 2.0 world and international media

World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia
Confronting Challenges in Defining a Collaborative Future
Istanbul, Turkey 30 October-1 November

The first World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia takes place at a time when the EU, Russia, Turkey and Central Asia are reasserting their role and influence beyond their borders in the face of internal and external challenges.

Turkey – bridging Europe, Asia and the Middle East – is a natural choice to host the meeting; the country maintains economic buoyancy, drives regional development, advances its role of mediator, and champions the intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The meeting, co-hosted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, will bring together international and regional business leaders and government representatives, as well as media, cultural and religious leaders from across Europe, Turkey, Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

“Turkey will be at the top of the world's interest over the next months to come. It is at several historical crossroads. This meeting will provide opportunity of interaction between the leaders of Turkey and Europe and its neighbours in the East and the South to determine the regional agenda.” Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

The Co-Chairs are:
Herman Gref, Chief Executive Officer, Sberbank RF, Russian Federation; Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation (2000-2007)
Muhtar A. Kent, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, USA
Neelie Kroes, Commissioner, Competition, European Commission, Brussels
Jean Lemierre, President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), London