Clinton calls for urgent economic intervention

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• Clinton underscored the need for US leadership in quelling the economic downturn
• He highlighted the opportunities afforded by a fundamental review of the global financial system
• Follow the Annual Meeting online at http://www.weforum.org/annualmeeting  – join the Davos Debates, watch webcast sessions, read session reports, download photos, twitter, participate in press conferences

Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 29 January 2009 − William J. Clinton, Founder, William Jefferson Clinton Foundation; President of the United States (1993-2001), called for urgent US leadership to stem the current financial crisis and restore the global economy. Addressing the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009, Clinton highlighted the opportunities afforded by a fundamental review of the global financial system, predicting an explosion of jobs from government stimulus-fuelled investments in alternative energy technologies. However, “the main thing is to get through this as fast as we can,” said Clinton.

Clinton also stressed the interdependence in the world economy, reminding governments that when they finance the US recovery by buying US Treasuries they are investing in their own export economies. “This financial crisis proves, as nothing else should – or could, the fundamental fact that global interdependence is more important than anything else in the world today. We cannot escape each other. Divorce is not an option.” And the former president applauded what he predicted would be a coming reassessment of global trading and development policies, in particular a return to supporting agricultural programmes in the developing world.

“People are frightened out there,” said Clinton. “There's a lot of fear out there in the economy. So, I don't think that now is the best time in the world to get new trade agreements. But I also believe that intelligent people all over the world will see that it is not necessarily the time to pick new fights, either. We have to get out of this together.”
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