The World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based non-profit organization best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Business leaders are joined by top politicians, artists, academics, religious leaders, trade unionists, and campaigners from organizations such as Greenpeace, Oxfam and Amnesty International. The paying members are approximate 1,000 large companies while non-business participants (including celebrities) attend meetings for free. Organizers of the forum say the meeting is about “improving the state of the world.”
This year’s top concern at the forum was “Shaping the Post-Crisis World.” For five days, the 2,500 participants from over 90 countries listened to new ideas, exchanged views, closed crucial deals and worked to solve the world’s current economic recession. In his opening speech on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed the US-led financial system for the world’s recession, claiming that “excessive expansion of financial institutions in blind pursuit of profit” was a result of the government’s failure to supervise the financial sector and stop an “unsustainable model of development, characterized by prolonged low savings and high consumption.” China is the US government’s largest creditor and has been a huge beneficiary of American consumption.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his opening speech, “I would only like to remind you that, only a year ago, from this rostrum, we heard the words of American representatives about the fundamental stability and cloudless prospects of the US economy. But today, the pride of Wall Street – the investment banks – has practically stopped existing.” As Putin warned against State interference throughout his speech, the BBC reported last year that many private Russian businesses faced increasing levels of government interference. The New York Times even reported this December that the Kremlin was capitalizing on the economic crisis, exploiting the opportunity to establish more control over financially weak industries, particularly those in natural resources.
The underlying tensions and several highly visible confrontations at the event were not surprising considering the complex and threatening issues at hand. The powerful speeches of Jiabao and Putin reinforced the fact that the world is more multi-polar and interdependent than ever. The solutions to our current predicament lie in recognition that no one nation has all the answers. Rather, we need close collaboration between the emerging and developed worlds to navigate through the current difficulties. Jean-Claude Trichet warned financial markets on Thursday to stop putting pressure on banks to hold more capital, insisting that such proposals were exacerbating the global recession. His comments came as top bankers and policymakers noted that the bank bail-outs in Europe and the US could trigger a new era of financial protectionism that could deepen the global economic downturn.
According to Mark Spelman of Accenture’s Global Strategy practice, the forum has summarized the 2009 year in four words – volatility, opportunity, challenge and transformation. Times will be tough but for leaders and businesses with cash, there will be opportunities to be seized. Now that the World Economic Forum of 2009 is over, we are left with greater clarity on why the problems arose, but concerned with the amount of work yet to be done. Still short on the practicalities of how to move forward, the five-day meeting failed to provide solutions to the worst economic situation in 80 years. Maybe it isn’t surprising then, that one of the biggest criticisms of the WEF is that many of the people who hope to solve the world’s problems are those who have caused them.
