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Highlights from World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007 From the meeting: Sunday 28 January
Dignity "requires that we recognize the dignity of others...dignity is the heart of ethics", said Pekka Himanen, Young Global Leader and Philosopher and Professor, Helsinki Institute of Information Technology, Finland. Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America, said that the dignity of human beings is enhanced when they "can exercise more control over themselves and their environment". "It is not the fineness of the cloth or the demeanour. It is the liberation from the meanness of the mind," said Jaggi Vasudev, Founder, Isha Foundation, India. "It is the way you are not disturbed by what is happening around you." Young Global Leader John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Operation Hope, differentiated poverty from having no money. "'Broke' is economic. 'Poor' is a disabling frame of mind," he said. "In order to have dignitiy you have to offer it first...You cannot call yourself a leader unless you are prepared to serve." Roshaneh Zafar, a Schwab Foundation social entrepreneur, said that "every human being has the need to be recognized" and that "dignity is applied selectively in societies".
Interdependence is the defining characteristic of the 21st century and there is a curious mix in today's politics of "moral cause and strategic interest", he said, the challenge of climate change being the "supreme expression of interdependence". Interdependence is giving rise to a sense of global values but while we acknowledge the interdependent reality, we lack the capacity and means to act, said Blair. The Prime Minister called for reform of the UN and other international bodies in order to make them more effective and representative of their members. "Global purpose, underpinned by global values requires global instruments of effective multilateral action," he said.
"There was a recognition of a shifting of power," observed Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises. "What will happen when powers like China and India come up? ... This is not only good for China and India but also for the world. When we talk about globalization, it is not only about geographical boundaries or trade, we have to talk about the large humanity out there," he said. "As we talked about globalization, there was increasing recognition that we need to have better communication and education about globalization to try to impress upon people across the world the benefits of globalization," added Michelle Guthrie, CEO, Star Group, and Young Global Leader. "When I look at the atmosphere and dialogue, there was no one trying to steal the agenda," said James J. Schiro, Group CEO and Chairman of the Group Management Board, Zurich Financial Services. "People coming here were listening, talking about the issues and putting the action steps they have to take." "When I think of the messages of the World Economic Forum, it’s enormously optimistic and one that I share," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO, Google.
Press release | Webcast The Doha round of trade negotiations has gained a “new momentum”, said Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization. “This morning’s meeting has given new energy into the talks, to the point where the landing strip is approaching,” he reported at a session on the outcome of informal trade talks. Peter Mandelson, Commissioner, Trade European Commission, gave an explanation of why agriculture had come to dominate the trade talks. “Agriculture is important because it is the area which has been subject to the least amount of reform,” he said. Celso Amorim, Minister of Foreign Relations for Brazil, declared that he had been given a mandate by the President of Brazil to complete the talks, no matter how long it took. “If we have to be locked in a room and have the key thrown away, then so be it,” he said. Pascal Lamy concluded the session by stating that further bilateral meetings must take place before talks in Geneva could resume.
The CEOs of major technology companies discussed at an Annual Meeting session the Web 2.0 generation of technologies that are transforming the media industry. Last year the focus was on voice net and game learning but this year’s panel discussed social networking and the move towards 3D functionality. "There is a broad trend for people to share their lives with as wide an audience as possible", Chad Hurley, Co-Founder of YouTube, said. Using his own company as an example, Hurley added that, “since we are now the largest audience, even more people are choosing to share their experiences on our site.” The panellists also discussed the new and different ways to measure online success. “Page views are becoming less relevant. What’s taking their place is the number of connections that are made on your site,” said Caterina Fake, Founder, Flikr, USA.
Webcast I Interview with Chad Hurley
The issue for outsiders and investors is whether Russia is reliable, and investors in the country "feel that Russia is very, very reliable", said James Turley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ernst & Young. "Overwhelmingly, investors are seeing greater growth and plan to invest more" in Russia he said. He cautioned that there are continuing problems of corruption and bureaucracy but that "we take great comfort" in the fact that the government is not trying to brush these probems under the carpet. "Any progress made has been ignored," while "anything that goes wrong is highly publicised", said Steve Forbes, President and CEO of Forbes Inc. Too much attention is focused on oil and energy, while "the story not being told is the story of Russian entrepreneurship which is flourishing," said Turley. On Russia's nationalized companies, Russia's Trade Minister Herman Gref said that "you should sell everything that can be bought and if it can be bought it should be in private hands".
One step would be to heal ties between Washington and Tehran. "The relationship between Iran and the United States can be great for the region and the whole world ... Unfortunately we have a very big, huge wall of inconfidence," Khatami noted. "Still, the door to the negotiation is open," he added. Kerry called on President Bush to engage with Iran and Syria. Another step to restore confidence would be to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is the central issue fuelling instability in the region, said Abdullah Gül, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, Arab League of States. They appealed to leaders to move forward with urgency.
The critical issue of building health systems in developing markets was addressed in a session at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Distinguished Fellow, The Brookings Institution, posed the question, “if a community has no hospital, do you build them a hospital or build them a road to the next community’s hospital?”. Dilemmas like this, she said, “show the need for an integrated approach that brings different providers together”. In the context of a world where developing countries account for 90% of global disease burden, but only 12% of global health spending, the panellists agreed that weak health systems prevent health gains and economic development in emerging markets. The Word Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative is working with partners to set up a public-private partnership aimed at strengthening health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, supporting the German G8 presidency's stated priority for Africa. The Global Health Initiative | Session summary
Friday 26 January
"I think it important that the momentum is redoubled for the G-8 meeting in Germany," said Blair. He emphasized the importance of a conclusion of the Doha round for stimulating growth and prosperity on the continent. Speaking after talks with trade ministers in Davos, he said: "The mood was of cautious optimism, and there is every chance this will get underway again. If it succeeds it will be great but if it fails it will be catastrophic." Bono described "unfairness in trade agreements" as "corruption from the north." William H. Gates III, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, said that the capacity of healthcare personnel needed to be increased. "The breakthroughs are coming," he concluded. Webcast I Press release | Session summary
"Mexico has workers and the US has capital, and there must be a two-way flow of both of these assets between the countries," said new Mexican President Calderon-Hinojosa. The debate is about, “whether barriers are necessary,” he said, adding that he hoped to convince US public opinion that there needed to be two-way relationship between the two countries. Fulfilling the Goldman Sachs prediction that Mexico will become the world’s fifth largest economy is also a serious ambition for Calderon-Hinojosa. On the subject of security, he said that “we will be resolute in the act of ensuring the safety of our citizens in all areas of the country and in the short time that I have been in power we have already arrested 15 drug barons”.
Session summary | Webcast I Press release Media company CEOs expressed confidence that the phenomenon of user-generated content will not spell the end of their business models. “We’ve seen that our content has remained very popular and that the majority of page views on social networking sites are for professionally produced content,” said Michael Wolf, President, MTV Networks. His comments followed wide speculation that traditional media business models will not survive the rise of networked content-sharing among consumers. Despite falling advertising revenues for traditional media, Ogilvy & Mather Chairman, Shelly Lazarus, remains upbeat. “20% of people’s lives are spent on the internet but it only gets 7% of all advertising," Internet advertising creates a potential for companies to replace revenues lost from providing free content,” she told session participants. Steve Chen, Founder of YouTube, added from the floor that, “if you charge people for viewing content, they will now simply switch to the next provider”.
Other formerly "free" resources like fresh air, blue sky and free jobs, are also difficult to set a market value, said Fred Kindle, President and CEO, ABB. E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company, gave the example of South Africa which attempted to do just that with water. They set the basic water requirement at 60 litres, which would be supplied for free to every citizen. Anything in addition would be priced according to usage. "I don’t think there are real limits to growth, but there are many constraints to growth," said Isdell. His biggest constraint would be a loss of confidence in the system which is causing growth. Such a loss could lead to a rise in levels of populism and a reaction that "causes barriers to go up." Chukwuma C. Soludo, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria argued that the deep constraints both domestically and globally to growth are more political and social than economic and technological.
The next generation of privacy concerns topped the agenda in a session dedicated to the need to protect data and privacy. “Peer to peer privacy concerns that have only affected celebrities until now will become the norm for everyone in the future,” said Jonathan Zittrain, Professor, Internet Governance and Regulation, University of Oxford. Louis D’Ambrosio, President, Avaya, noted that to a large extent "the responsibility has to lie with the individual”, meaning that people should exercise caution before publishing potentially embarassing personal information on the internet. “It’s also important that we acknowledge the benefits of access to information as well as the risks,” he added. This point was underlined by the need to balance the threat of government intrusions into citizens' privacy against the need to fight terrorism. “Financial intelligence is an important part of the fight against terror but we need the right to audit the government’s use of the information that we give them,” said Leonard Schrank, CEO of SWIFT SCRL. One new blog is launched every second, and a million new people register on the internet every day, according to Brown. “We are shaping the agenda in a new way… But I don’t think politicians have caught up with this. We’re operating in the slow lane of the information super highway,” he said. He urged politicians to have global debates on issues like trade, climate change and globalization to ensure citizens of the world are engaged and can also be informed. Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, and Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, said the impact was also being felt in the business world. For example, employees increasingly wish to work for companies that are engaged in corporate social responsibility, which has led Goldman Sachs to become active on particular issues. When asked if the media has the power to shape agendas, Murdoch said no. “In the media, you like to make a difference by putting forward your opinions. A good strong news organization can by disclosing things help shape the agenda, but only by a limited way,” he said.
Abbas said that the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting had become an "international platform that gathers leaders who have contributed to building a human future." Economic cooperation between Israel, the Palestinians, the Jordanians and the international community would help integrate the peoples of the region and stimulate prosperity, added Shimon Peres, Vice-Prime Minister of Israel. The leaders watched recorded video messages of Israeli and Palestinian young people, urging the leaders to progress with peace.
"I think the Chinese government has a clear understanding and firm policies that we must have a reasonable balance between the increase in energy demand, and the protection of the environment," said Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice-Chairman, National Development and Reform Commission, People's Republic of China. Samuel W. Bodman, US Secretary of Energy, said: "There will be a 50 percent growth in energy demand over the next 20 years and I see no alternative to nuclear power as an emission-friendly source of electric power." "Co2 is a problem, and if we are good entrepreneurs, then this is a huge opportunity," said Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell. "There is enormous energy efficiency technology available that is not being put to use," concluded Tillerson.
Webcast I Background essay
"Technology provides the solutions" to offset the menace of climate change, said Jacques Aigrain, CEO of Swiss Re. Technology solutions must also be easily transferable to India and China - countries that Aigrain termed "our pension funds" - as they will be the future drivers of economic growth. He added that it is the politicians' responsibility to take pre-emptive measures, although in the end "market solutions will prevail". Aigrain's remarks closely echoed those of Steve Chu, Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who said that "without clean coal extraction we're going to have an enormous problem". "We have to invest very seriously in technology and encourage China and India not to make the same mistakes as the US." The world "still has time but not that much time - a few decades - to get [progress on climate change] going in a big way", said Chu. Webcast I Session summary I Press release
Reform fatigue is widespread among EU countries but "all the tools we need for reforming our countries are in our hands", said Ferenc Gyurcsany, Prime Minister of Hungary, speaking on the prospects for European economic growth. "We would like to win without competing - that is the general European attitude," he said. Governments must convince their publics that "reform has short-term costs but the benefits are coming", said Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD. When reform becomes painful, the reformers lose the elections and subsequently the appetite for reform diminishes, he said. Gurría also emphasised that "'energy-environment' has to be the focus today" and this is an area where the Europeans are leading. The buzzword is no longer 'prevention' but 'adaptation costs' as we are already witnessing irreversible environmental changes, he said. Moderator Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University, Netherlands, noted that none of the panellists mentioned the new emerging economies in their comments, subsequently adding that "Europeans are inclined to have a parochial view. We are great in cosmopolitan provincialism."
Faced with a world in which multiculturalism and modernism have created many new challenges, Annual Meeting participants sought to identify common areas between cultures that could promote dialogue. “Bloody conflict gets the attention of the world but there are more positive developments going on,” noted David Rosen, President, International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Relations. Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005), warned that the world had paid a heavy price for extremist acts and that Western society, although benefiting from some great scholars, “needed its politicians to show understanding, not arrogance.” The media has a role to play in creating multicultural dialogue. The recent riots in France, portrayed by the media as religious in nature, were in fact caused by social and economic problems, according to Jean-Francois Copé, Minister of Budget and State Reform of France. Webcast I West-Islamic World Dialogue I Session summary
“We need to impose consequences on those countries that will not sign anti-terror agreements,” said Michael Chertoff, US Secretary of Homeland Security, during an Annual Meeting session. He said that tough measures against hardliners should co-exist with dialogue with moderates on how to define the struggle against terrorism. “The EU has been trying to break down barriers to cross-country co-operation in the fight against terrorism. We need to fight terrorism globally as it’s a global threat,” noted Gijs de Vries, EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator.
Webcast I Join the conversation
Adnan Pachachi, Member of Parliament Iraqi National Assembly, echoed the Vice-President, saying "The main problem facing Iraq is the absence of national security forces that are dependable and not infiltrated by militias. And until there is a national security force that has undivided loyalty to the state, then we are going to have this problem (of violence)." He recommended mobilizing an international force to help maintain stability if United States troops withdrew, while al-Mahdi unveiled a new security plan for the city of Baghdad. "One of the factors of not having stability is the regional environment. Iraq is paying for that," added al-Mahdi. He called for greater partnership with Iraq’s neighbours – including Iran and Syria – where there is "no interference" in others’ issues and disputes are dealt with peacefully. Wednesday 24 January
Echoing Le Meur’s sentiments, Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports of Singapore, said that the rise of the virtual world would make it harder for politicians to lie and that to achieve credibility, people would have to “reflect their true selves with their avatars”. On the difficulties of the virtualization process, Yossi Vardi, Chairman, International Technologies Ventures, said that “to communicate and develop a relationship by proxy is not a trivial thing. Internet technologies have allowed us to make great leaps forward but we are still a long way from attaining ‘total presence’ in the virtual world”. Join the conversation I The Forum on Second Life I Session summary Merkel is also "firmly convinced that the process of globalization is one of liberation" and that "more freedom for more security should be the guiding principles" of globalization. However, she cautioned that economic growth cannot be created through unfair measures and cannot be an end in itself, saying that governments "must give a political force to globalization". On global trade, the Chancellor stressed that open markets are "indispensible" for growth. The Doha round of trade negotiations offers a real chance for advancement and parties need to show flexibility. In respect to climate change, "zero growth is not the answer, but rather enhanced innovation", she said, and "new technology for energy efficiency is absolutely necessary."
Press release I Speech (German) I Speech (English) I Webcast I Session summary I German G8 presidency objectives The co-chairs of the Annual Meeting said in the opening plenary session that business has a responsibility to be more engaged in the debate on globalization. Decision-makers in business, government and civil society have a "chance of a lifetime to be in a positon of leadership and make a difference", said James Schiro of Zurich Financial Services, in response to a plenary speech delivered earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. While climate change requires a long-term solution, he said, "we have to focus on the consequences of climate change in the near-term" and "how we enable economic infrastructure" to withstand the short-term effects of climate change. Neville Isdell of The Coca-Cola Company stressed that insecurity "threatens globalization and the growth that we are enjoying today". Business has "not been engaged enough in the debate", he admitted, adding that "this is a charge we should take upon ourselves". Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises questioned the Chancellor on G-8 support to the least developed countries (LDCs), saying that "we are not seeing much joy in the eyes of LDC countries. It is important that their agenda moves forward". Michelle Guthrie of Star Group expressed concern over increased income disparities in countries, including the developed economies.
Session panellist Scott Freidheim, Co-Chief Administrative Officer Lehman Brothers, caught the mood of this discussion on the Shifting Power Equation by identifying business shifts that climate change would cause. “There will be a move away from corporate social responsibility towards long term sustainability,” he said. Annual Meeting participants broke into small groups to discuss which shift would have the greatest global impact in the coming years. They created a shortlist of important changes that are currently underway in business, technology, society and the global economy and then voted for the most important. Climate change was chosen as the shift most likely to affect the world in the future, narrowly beating the emergence of new markets into second place. Webcast I Join the conversation I Session summary I Results of issue vote
The advent of cyberspace has changed the colour of risk and the world needs a new approach to mitigating it, said panellists in an off-the-record session on global risk at the Annual Meeting. The internet connects the world while enabling actors to remain anonymous and this creates an "anonymity of threats". At the same time, information travels at huge speed to connect the world, while the global community is disintegrating as smaller communities are increasingly significant actors. Panellists emphasised that coordination is essential to mitigate risks as they are interdependent in nature. Public-private partnerships are needed, along with tax and financial incentives and third-party inspections. Global risk I 2007 report I Weblog I Join the conversation I Background essay I Session summary
“Even with a US slowdown, it should be another Goldilocks year for the global economy thanks to encouraging growth from Europe and Japan,” said Laura Tyson, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Most of the participants of this Global Economy update session agreed with this assessment, but Nouriel Roubini, Chairman and Professor, Roubini Global Economics, warned that the risk of a US slowdown was real and identified its housing recession as a major warning sign. The debate then moved on to address the question of how much a US slowdown would affect the rest of the world. Jacob A. Frenkel, Vice-Chairman, American International Group, observed that there is now an inbuilt stability to the world economic system and that the significance of a US slowdown to the global economy is reduced. Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, India, and Min Zhu, Group Executive Vice-President, Bank of China, agreed that there would be resilience from India and China to any slowdown in US growth. Webcast I Programme I Join the conversation I Session summary I Background essay
Quotes "Education is one of the greatest equalizers… Achieving access to education for all is an achievable goal and equality has to be the lowest common denominator."
Co-Chairs
Dialogue in the dark After groping our way to what I presume was the centre of the completely dark room, and found a chair at a table to sit on, we were given a group exercise. Our instructors handed out mis-matched pieces of a Russian doll set which we then had to put together – without touching the others’ pieces. If the darkness was not enough to break the ice, then the dialogue that accompanied our exercise certainly was. Our group was paralytic with laughter as we shouted out our Russian doll status in an attempt to find our matching other half. "My bottom is bigger than yours," said one participant to the other, "But my two tops don’t have enough wiggle room to match your bottom, or would the smaller one fit?", "My top is definitely bigger than yours", "Is this a competition?" said another. We managed to put the doll together in the allotted 12 minutes by drawing the size of the circumference of the doll part on each others’ palms, and then assembling it in one go. Satisfied at our accomplishment, we sat back and chatted in the most relaxed way. The unusual setting was an equalizer, forcing us to judge others not by the colour of their badge or looks. Reactions to the experience were wide-ranging: "The touching and listening to each other meant more and I visualized what was happening better," said one participant. "It was better because you don’t see the others and then you listen with your heart and are not prejudiced with sight," said another. "Darkness is a social utopia – we are all equal and the outer pressure strengthens inner links, this was a space without prejudice," commented yet another. When we asked our blind instructor for her take on this idea, she said simply: "It doesn’t last". Other ways to gauge people come to the fore, she said. Not discouraged, the group suggested bringing in the Middle East leaders present at the Annual Meeting to conduct peace talks in the dark – something that could feasibly take place in Davos. "At Davos, I achieve parity with my sighted colleagues because it’s talking and listening," said a blind business participant. He raised the fact that there is 74 percent unemployment amongst blind people in the United States. More needs to be done to engage them in the economy and society, the group agreed, or at least extend the dialogue. |
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What is dignity?
An eclectic assembly of panellists and audience members shared their definitions of dignity in the closing ceremony of the Annual Meeting.
"Despite the multiple challenges in the world today I am optimistic," said Tony Blair in his closing address to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos on the three issues of world trade, Africa and climate change.
The Annual Meeting closed on an "upbeat mood" with the Co-Chairs pledging on behalf of the 2,400 participants to use their positions of leadership to turn commitments on the top issues of climate change, global trade and globalization into action. "We are the epicentre of world engagement. It's not just the results of the four days that flow out of here. The initiatives will continue so when we are back here in 2008 we can say something really did happen," concluded E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company.
"The progress made by Russia is absolutely magnificent," said Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. "People don't understand how fundamentally changed Russia is. We need to help Russia project itself in a different way. However, Russia must help itself. It has not always put its best foot forward," he said.
The Middle East is experiencing a crisis of confidence, agreed Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt, and John F. Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts (Democrat), USA, in a plenary session on the future of the region. Solving this requires "great collaboration of all countries… we should build confidence in practice," said Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005).
Two years after promises pledged during the Year of Africa and continued top billing on the G-8 agenda, the delivery in full is still lacking. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, and Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister, agreed that a lack of capacity was one of the primary factors undermining the delivery of promises to the continent. Bono blamed corruption in Africa and in the industrialized world for the limited progress made so far.
"I absolutely believe that with innovation and markets you can deal with most issues," said Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr, Global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, in answer to the question of how to deal with the next limits to growth. "If you let the market work and give resources the right prices, then the market will adjust," agreed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé and World Economic Forum Foundation Board Member. He continued: "If I had to identify one resource [that] I am worried about, that is water ... There is no market mechanism which regulates the water supply."
The global economy and society is in the midst of a historic shift, agreed business and political leaders in a plenary session entitled “Who will shape the agenda?” “We are responding to rising aspirations of people expressed in new ways, in multimedia forums, and the political system has to be more responsive,” said Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.
Israel and the Palestinians are committed to resolving the conflict dividing them, leaders told participants in a plenary Annual Meeting session. Tzipi Livni, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel said Israel was committed to a "two state solution, living side by side in peace". Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President, said he was "confident" the foundations were present for a resumption of peace talks.
Energy company bosses joined political leaders to discuss increased competition over access to oil and natural gas and the impact on the geopolitical and physical landscapes. Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation said that fossil fuels still accounted for "80 percent" of energy consumption, and that a balance needed to be found between economic growth and prosperity, and protecting the environment.
The Vice-President of Iraq, 
We have partly lost control of our identity, according to Loic Le Meur, Executive Vice-President of Six Apart, and the times when companies and individuals could control their image is over. “Fortunately it is also what you say online and your own influence that matters as well,” he said.
"I’d like to commend the World Economic Forum for introducing young people and bringing them into the conversation. It’s a great thing and highlights the fact that youth are an integral part of the conversation."
"GAVI has demonstrated that with the right resources and leadership, it is possible to make dramatic health gains in poor countries," said Bill Gates. "We need to build on this success. No child should be denied access to lifesaving immunizations."
In order for the Japanese domestic economy to expand, it is necessary to continue with steady structural reforms. Prime Minister Abe’s cabinet believes in carrying out reforms in order to give the Japanese economy new opportunities."
"There is a perception that China’s growth is export driven but last year's exports only accounted for 15% of growth whereas domestic consumption contributed around 20% and investments were responsible for over 40%."
Climate change: "We still have time but not that much time - a few decades - to get this going in a big way".
"The big question of our time is still 'how can human beings live together in peace and security?'... Davos is a place where we can share experiences and make things happen."
"By putting climate change at the top of the Davos 2007 agenda, the World Economic Forum has focused on the key challenge of our time. The moment to act is now. Many of those present in Davos have the power to move decisively on global emission reductions - the world is looking to them to rise to this crucial challenge."
"The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos comes at a critical international moment on trade, climate change, and Africa. Talks between leaders could help outline elements of a future post Kyoto Climate framework that could then be agreed at the German G8, restart the stalled WTO talks and galvinise the will to deliver on our 2005 promises on Africa"
"Globalization offers people everywhere great opportunities for enhanced freedom and prosperity. To release the positive forces of globalization, we must reduce global imbalances in public finances and world trade. This means following new paths, both in our cooperation with emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil and in enhanced dialogue with Africa on reform and sustainable development. This will be a focus of Germany's concurrent Presidencies of the G-8 and EU this year. A further challenge lies in protecting the climate and securing our energy supply. Here we need an efficient energy policy which promotes the economical use of resources – all over the world. I have no doubt that with the right conditions in place, all people have the chance to become winners of globalization."
