Under the motto ‘Cooperation in a fragmented world’, the summit will be held without billionaires from Russia or China.
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum begins this Monday in the Swiss city of Davos, where the political and economic elite, as well as high-profile names from the academic world, the media and civil society meet again in person after the two latest editions that were carried out virtually due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The motto of this year’s summit, which will last until January 20, is the ‘Cooperation in a fragmented world‘ and some of the central issues to be discussed are high inflation in the economy, the energy crisisclimate change and the conflict in Ukraine.
The economic slowdown, the rising food prices and energy, as well as “increased geoeconomic fragmentation, financial sector vulnerabilities, including inflated asset prices and high debt levelsand an out-of-control climate crisis” are interconnected, and unless a solution is found the world could face one “decade of uncertainty and fragilitywarns the World Economic Forum.
Geoeconomic fragmentation
In the geopolitical sphere, the organization regrets that the trade has been used as a weapon by some countries to punish their rivals. “The geopolitical palette went from cooperation to competition. There is a growing need for a new global system that is more stakeholder-based and equipped to handle the dynamics of the 21st century,” she adds.
The current edition of the Davos Forum will have the participation of only a G7 leader, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It is not the first time that the summit has had little assistance from the bloc’s leaders. Reasons for absence often involve most pressing problems that are addressed in their countries, according to CNBC.
Another shadow cast over the Swiss city this week is that of the global economy, with the World Bank cutting its 2023 growth outlook to 1.7%. The organizers of the summit have decided not to hold swanky receptions nor show too much optimism as the cost of living rises in much of the world, reports The National newspaper.
In its Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum showed that the “cost of living crisis” will be the greatest risk facing the world in the next two years, followed by “natural disasters and extreme weather.”
A forum without Russians or Chinese
On the other hand, this edition reflects the new world order change, since it will not have the participation of any billionaire from Russia or China, reports Bloomberg. Until recently, Russian tycoons “were a fixture in Davos“, but this year none will attend due to the conflict in Ukraine and the rejection of the West towards Russia.
As for Chinese billionaires, their absence is especially due to the pandemic. Total 116 tycoons from different countries registered for the forum, and 33 of them are from the United States.
In addition, the meeting will feature a strong Ukrainian presence and the first lady of Ukraine, Yelena Zelenskaya, is even scheduled to participate in an online session. According to The National, discussions in this regard will largely focus on maintain Western support for kyiv.
In recent years, the Davos Forum has increasingly become object of criticismand in Switzerland itself last Sunday there were protests describing it as the peak of “shame”. Even some attendees at the meeting have accused other participants of elitism and hypocrisy, for example, for arriving on private planes to talk about climate change.
Source: RT
