Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 29 January 2012 – The 42nd World Economic
Forum Annual Meeting closed today, with business leaders urging
resolute action to promote growth and employment, particularly among
young people. \”Jobs should be our number one priority,\” declared
Annual Meeting Co-Chair Vikram Pandit, Chief Executive Officer of
Citi, in a session on the global agenda for 2012. \”Ultimately it is
about growth. Nothing creates jobs better than growth.\” Added fellow
Co-Chair Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever: \”It is
unacceptable that 200 million people cannot enter the workplace.\”
To drive the new growth needed for full recovery from the recent
global recession, governments have to provide the right environment,
policies and leadership. \”We believe that government should set up
industry and other sectors for success,\” said Sheryl Sandberg, Chief
Operating Officer of Facebook, who also served as a Meeting Co-Chair.
\”Education and investment in infrastructure are critical.\” For
Alejandro Ramirez, Chief Executive Officer of Cinepolis, the chief
concern must be the widening wealth gap. \”We need to reduce the income
inequality we are seeing everywhere in the world that is increasing
the backlash.\”
Speaking in the same session, the two other Co-Chairs called on the
record 2,600 Annual Meeting participants to translate words into
deeds. \”We need to find new ways of actually working together,\” Peter
Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell urged. \”We need to
move from debate to action.\” Said Yasuchika Hasegawa, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Takeda Pharmaceutical: \”We should not just
be talking; we should be implementing. We are committed to improving
the state of the world. We are going to do it.\”
In the closing plenary of the Annual Meeting, Klaus Schwab, Founder
and Chief Executive Officer of the World Economic Forum, said that the
discussions over the past five days made clear that the international
community should work together to shape new models of governance and
enterprise that meaningfully address the concerns and problems that
people have. \”We have to make capitalism and the free market much more
responsive to social needs,\” he remarked. \”If business is not serving
society, then business is not sustainable.\” Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of the Yunus Centre, agreed. For such a shift
in thinking to happen in the world, there must be visionary
leadership, he added. \”We need to spend a lot more time \’visioning\’.
Unless we have a vision, we are lost.\”
The theme of the Annual Meeting was The Great Transformation: Shaping
New Models. With the spotlight falling on the sovereign debt crisis in
the Eurozone, there was a free exchange of views on the economic
models and measures needed to ensure the continent\’s future
prosperity.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for \”more Europe\”, with
structural reforms, belt-tightening and greater labour market mobility
necessary to underpin revival. Mario Draghi, President of the European
Central Bank, cautioned that Europe\’s banking sector is entering a
critical phase, with EURO 230 billion of bonds due in the near future,
even though assertive action by the ECB and Europe\’s banks had so far
been successful in averting another credit crunch.
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), said: \”No country is immune and everybody has an interest
in making sure that this crisis is resolved adequately.\” Timothy
Geithner, US Secretary of the Treasury, agreed with the consensus
forecast that the United States economy would grow between 2-3% this
year, but warned that it could be set back by a prolonged crisis in
the Eurozone.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda nevertheless offered his
support, saying that: \”Japan stands ready to support the Eurozone as
much as possible.\” Noda also mentioned that Japan is working with
South Korea and India to try to prevent the sovereign debt contagion
spreading to Asia.
At their first Davos, the World Economic Forum\’s newest community, the
Global Shapers – exceptional leaders under the age of 30 – took an
active role throughout the programme, frequently arguing for social
values to be embedded within any new business model. \”I envision a
world in which everyone has equal opportunity to get an education and
a job,\” said Global Shaper Tyler Spencer, Founder of Grassroot
Project, in the closing session. \”To realize that vision of the world,
we will have to agree on a set of shared values.\”
In another extraordinary act of philanthropy, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation announced an extra US$ 750 million to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. \”These are tough economic times,
but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world\’s poorest,\” said
Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation. In a session on food
security, Gates argued that he is \”optimistic\” about the daunting
challenge of doubling food production by 2050 to feed a population
forecast to hit 9 billion.
One year after the Arab Spring began to reshape the model of power in
the region, Tunisia\’s new Prime Minister, Hammadi Jebali, promised
that the country\’s new constitution would guarantee freedom of the
press, an independent judiciary and an end to discrimination. \”There
will be no discrimination as to religion, language or gender,\” he
said.
In a video address, Aung San Suu Kyi called on the world community to
support the Myanmar people\’s efforts to truly democratize their
country.
Transformation is under way across Africa. Five African heads of state
– from South Africa, Guinea, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya – used the
Annual Meeting to call for greater cooperation between nations on the
continent and progress towards a common market.
Haiti also provided a hopeful note. Two years after a devastating
earthquake, President Michel Joseph Martelly told Annual Meeting
participants that from now on his country wants: \”No more aid but
trade. No more hand-outs but hand-ups. We\’re not afraid of the
future.\”
In conjunction with US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A.
Napolitano, the Forum\’s Risk team launched the New Models for
Addressing Supply Chain and Transport Risk report, a document that
marks the first step in a collaboration between the Risk Response
Network and the US government that will help build more resilient and
secure supply chains for the future.
The World Economic Forum also launched a new initiative during the
Annual Meeting to improve global resilience to major cyberrisks.
\”Partnering for Cyber Resilience\” is a set of shared principles,
signed and endorsed by chief executives of companies who recognize the
interdependence of all organizations in combating cyberrisks and their
role in contributing to a safer digital environment.
Clean, sustainable energy supply is a key issue. Speaking during the
plenary session on the importance of bringing a sustainable solution
to the world\’s energy poverty crisis, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General
of the United Nations, called for a \”massive mobilization of all
partners,\” claiming that, \”by providing sustainable energy for all, we
can revitalize economic growth, protect this planet Earth and the
environment, and spread the benefits of development more equitably.\”
Making her first address to the World Economic Forum, at a major
plenary session devoted to the role of women as leaders, Thailand\’s
Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, announced plans to create a
national women\’s development fund to protect human rights and deliver
improvements in education and healthcare for women.