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Will geopolitical conflicts outweigh the economic crisis in East Asia?

Kai Bucher, Senior Media Manager, Tel.: +82 10 8659 0095, kai.bucher@weforum.org
Matthias Lüfkens, Associate Director, Tel.: +41 (0)22 869 1212, matthias.luefkens@weforum.org

• The Davos Debates on YouTube discuss the impact of geopolitical conflicts in East Asia
• General public invited to shape the debate at the World Economic Forum on East Asia
• Over 6.7 million people have watched the Davos Debates to date: http://www.youtube.com/davos

Geneva, Switzerland, 14 June 2009 – The World Economic Forum has launched the Davos Debates in East Asia on YouTube to coincide with the World Economic Forum on East Asia, to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 18-19 June. The Davos Debates is a video channel on YouTube dedicated to public debate and discussion with global leaders about key issues affecting the world.

The Forum invites the general public to share their thoughts on the impact of geopolitical conflicts in East Asia. YouTubers can vote in a poll and answer the following question with a video reply: Will geopolitical conflicts outweigh the economic crisis in East Asia?

The videos submitted by the YouTube community will become part of the discussions at the meeting in Seoul. A dedicated video corner at the meeting will allow the 400 participating leaders to reply directly to the videos submitted by the YouTube community.
“Social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube have enabled the Forum to open its meetings to a global audience and allow the general public to participate directly in our discussions,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, the Davos Debates have been watched over 6.7 million times. In Davos, world leaders such as Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006); Shimon Peres, President of Israel; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey; Henry Kissinger, Chairman of Kissinger Associates; and Mohammad Yunus, Managing Director of Grameen Bank, among many others, have replied directly to the YouTube community. In January 2009, 24-year-old Colombian student Pablo Camacho was chosen for the best video entry and was invited, all expenses paid, to the Annual Meeting 2009 as a YouTube citizen reporter.

The Forum hosted similar public debates at the recent World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa (10-12 June) and the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Jordan (15-17 May).

The plenary sessions and press conferences in South Korea will also be streamed live on Livestream (http://livestream.com/worldeconomicforum) and key quotes from the sessions will be tweeted live on the Forum’s Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/davos), allowing a worldwide audience to follow the discussions.

Note to Editors:
For information on the meeting, please visit the Forum’s website: http://www.weforum.org/eastasia2009
Join the Davos Debates on East Asia: http://youtube.com/Davos
Download free high-resolution photos from Flickr: http://www.weforum.org/eastasia2009/photos
Watch webcasts of the plenary sessions: http://www.weforum.org/eastasia2009/webcasts
Follow the meeting on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davos. Twitter users, please use the hashtag #Korea09 for all tweets about the event. The official tag is Korea09. The short URL to our website is http://tr.im/Korea09
Session Summaries from the World Economic Forum on East Asia:
http://www.weforum.org/eastasia2009/summaries (as of 18 June)
In-depth interviews with key participants: http://www.weforum.org/eastasia2009/interviews
Befriend the Forum on MySpace: http://myspace.com/worldeconomicforum
Become a fan of the Forum on Facebook: http://facebook.com/worldeconomicforum
All Press Releases at http://www.weforum.org/pressreleases