World Economic Forum Special Meeting

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman will patronize the World Economic Forum (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development on April 28 and 29 in Riyadh.

More than 1000 global leaders, including heads of state and government, and thought leaders from across the public and private sectors, as well as from international organizations, academic institutions, and non-government organizations will participate in the two-day event convened by Saudi Arabia.

The Special Meeting, which will focus on three central themes of Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, will address the most pressing present day global development challenges.

The sessions will witness productive dialogues to enhance global collaboration and stimulate collective international action to devise sustainable solutions in a world marked by growing social and economic disparities, as developed nations surpass pre-pandemic levels of activity, while emerging economies continue to play catch-up, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Under Global Collaboration, dialogues will explore how to overcome today’s geopolitical upheavals and challenges, especially with the mounting humanitarian crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, while looking to foster inclusive dialogues between the Global South and North.

On the topic of Growth, the deliberations at Special Meeting will examine how the trends of transformation, innovation and economic policy-making are helping to create inclusive growth models through new investment frameworks, while looking to outline solutions to the deepening inequalities between developed and developing economies.

Under Energy for Development, leaders attending the meeting will focus on the need to achieve a net-zero future through an inclusive global energy transition.

The Special Meeting marks a continuation of the long-standing technical and policy-making collaboration between Saudi Arabia and the World Economic Forum, and builds on the impact of the Kingdom’s active participation and contributions at the Forum’s annual meetings held in Davos, Switzerland each year.

The agenda of the Special Meeting, which has been designed to revive the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, includes several panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities, and represents a unique convergence of global leaders and experts committed to forging a path towards a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable world.

The choice of Riyadh as the host for the WEF Special Meeting is tipped to be as a testament to Saudi Arabia’s global role in fostering international cooperation and collaboration. Since the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, Riyadh has emerged as a global capital and platform for thought leadership and action, innovation, and solutions that deliver worldwide impact, it was pointed out.

All set for Davos party

There’s a hangover happening in Davos even though the party hasn’t yet started. The World Economic Forum’s annual winter shindig in the Swiss mountain resort, which kicks off on Monday, marks a return for glitzy parties and high-minded debates following a three-year hiatus.

A record number of business leaders are set to make the trip, and the passage of commercial, private and government aircraft through Zurich’s airport suggests overall attendees are at pre-Covid-19 levels. Yet the direction for the future – and those who will lead it – is more clouded than ever.

Corporate and financial chieftains who skipped last May’s low-key Davos gathering are back. JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon, a regular at the conference, will be joined by Wall Street leaders including David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman. Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth and BP’s Bernard Looney will represent resurgent oil majors. All in all, the WEF expects to welcome some 2,700 leaders from 130 countries, including 370 public figures.

Yet the apparent return to business as usual only serves to highlight the changes that have taken place since the last full gathering of the Davos elite. The global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have added more friction to the already creaking globalised world that Davos epitomized.

Meanwhile, the political leaders responsible for shaping the new order are mostly staying at home. US President Joe Biden is not making the trip – unlike his predecessor. Though, a smattering of US Congress members are expected to come they are hardly well-known international figures. China’s most senior representative is Vice-Premier Liu He. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, grappling with a slowing economy and striking public sector workers, is also staying home.

A stroll down the Davos Promenade, the town’s main drag where countries and corporations temporarily take over storefronts, underscores the shift. Poland and Indonesia have a prominent presence, but other national delegations have quieter messages on display. Saudi Arabia has a few conspicuous banners touting NEOM, its futuristic economic zone. The United Arab Emirates is touting tolerance.

The cryptocurrency firms that were at previous gatherings are mostly muted, replaced by companies promoting technologies like the blockchain. The Medical Psychedelics House has been replaced by the India Inclusivity Lounge. Established technology companies like Workday, Salesforce, Cisco, Qualcomm and Meta Platforms dominate the street scene. Perhaps the most striking new tenant is Manchester United, the English Premier League club which is seeking a buyer.

The shift is reflective of a world that has become introspective and less joined-up. As big companies diversify supply chains, governments and regions are competing hard for business. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is dangling subsidies for American manufacturing, encouraging governors like J.B. Pritzker of Illinois to lure investment to their state. The WEF and its founder Klaus Schwab acknowledged some of this by renaming the conference “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”.

Still, those returning to Davos for the first time in three years may feel like the cocktail is a little less potent.

Courtesy: Reuters

Angela Merkel backs Xi Jinping on need to avoid new cold war

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel said, she agrees with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the need to avoid a new cold war amid calls for a transatlantic alliance between the United States and Europe to counter China, but she will continue to press Beijing on human rights and transparency.

“The Chinese president spoke yesterday, and he and I agree on that,” she told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday evening. “We see a need for multilateralism.”

Diplomatic observers said Merkel was expressing her vision of how the European Union should handle relations with China amid suggestions the US and EU should form an alliance to counter Beijing, which they both regard as a rival.

The German leader was referring to Xi’s speech on Monday, when he called for setting aside ideological differences, avoiding a new cold war and promoting multiculturalism. The remarks were made as the Joe Biden administration in the US was busy trying to repair ties with allies troubled by the Trump presidency.

Biden has this week spoken to several European leaders, including Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, as his top foreign policy officials seek a more coordinated approach with US allies on China strategy.

Readouts of the phone calls from the American side all mention China as one of the foreign policy priorities, along with Russia and the Middle East. But the issue of China was not mentioned in either of the statements from Europe.

“I’d very much wish to avoid the building of blocs,” Merkel said on Tuesday. “I don’t think it would do justice to many societies if we just say this is China and there is the United States and we are grouping among either one or the other. This is not my understanding of how things ought to be.”

Merkel, Macron and Xi were three of the speakers at this year’s World Economic Forum, which was held online. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the meeting.

Macron called for building “an economy more resilient to shocks and capable of integrating elements of resistance into production chains, an economy that takes into account this principle of humanity, in health matters as in social inequalities”.

John Kerry, Biden’s new climate envoy, and Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, were the only two speakers from the US government.

Merkel also pledged to keep pressing China on human rights and transparency.

 “The president of China has committed to the charters of the United Nations and the dignity of the individual plays a part in the charters,” she said. “We have to discuss this issue no matter what social system we come from.”

Transparency was also key to multilateralism, to ensure trade took place in a rule-based system and in case parties “play out advantages against certain countries”, she said.

Merkel also cited China’s information release onCOVID-19 as an example of lack of transparency, and defended the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, which was agreed last month after seven years of negotiations.

The bill had made EU-China ties more reciprocal and put China’s labour standards more in line with those of the International Labor Organization, despite mounting concerns in Europe about Beijing’s reported forced labour in Xinjiang, she said.

Cui Hongjian, Director of the Department of European studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Merkel’s remarks spoke of her vision of Europe as a coordinator between the US and China.

“It would serve Europe’s interests best if it maintains its strategic autonomy and plays the coordinator role between the US and China,” he said. “After the past four years, Europe has better realized the overlapping and contradictory interests with the US.”

Merkel’s direct reference to Xi’s speech was surprising, he said.

“I think it’s a shout to both the US and China, that multilateralism is the precondition for cooperation with either side,” he said.