By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL – The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 , 54th annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland that began on Monday, has been dealing with some of the toughest global challenges to date. This year’s theme: Building Trust includes four pillars – International Security, Growth and Jobs, Emerging Technology and Climate & Nature. Current challenges that were front and center on the WEF agenda were artificial intelligence (AI), Ukraine-Russia, Gaza and Cyber-crime. Current takeaways from this week’s WEF 2024 are the need to prioritize global goals and rules for AI with the richest in Davos encouraging the ‘wealth tax’ as well as a consensus that Europe needs to be more independent along with a general feeling of malaise from the majority in Davos about the prospect of another ‘Trump era’ though J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon sought not to demonize Trump.
The ‘Voices of Davos’ 2024 agreed on the global necessity of mass collaboration and cooperation in joint areas of interest. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted a stark fact in her comments: “The sobering reality is that we are once again competing more across countries than we have in several decades.” She added: “This is not a time for conflict or polarization. This is a time to build trust, to drive global collaboration more than ever before.” She was adamant that “Europe must take the lead in shaping that global response.” Meanwhile, Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF opened the forum, earlier in the week, commenting: “At the beginning of the year, we come together to analyze the state of the world in a systemic and strategic way and hopefully to find common ground to generate positive impact.”
U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan said that security and peace for all could be achieved if there is “collaboration and cooperation.” WEF President Berge Brende echoed Sullivan’s sentiment when he said: “This collaboration is ever more important as a result of the complex geopolitical and geoeconomics backdrop against which Davos takes place.” This particularly relates to the conflict in Gaza as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said when he urged all parties to negotiate and build a future path to a peaceful resolution in the Mideast. While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked about the necessity of a Palestinian state and reiterated that Israel would not have “genuine security” without following this trajectory. Blinken added that Arab leaders already indicated their willingness to normalize relations with Israel but not at the expense of a Palestinian state. As Blinken remarked: “The problem is getting from here to there, and of course, it requires very difficult, challenging decisions. It requires a mindset that is open to that perspective.”
To that end, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had a hopeful note when he said: “The war will end with a just and stable peace,” referring to the Ukraine-Russia war. As Zelensky emphasized: “We need you in Ukraine to build, reconstruct, to restore our lives,” and said that everyone could be “even more successful with Ukraine.” Zelensky commented: “We have made a key political contribution to the possibility of ending the war regarding implementation of a peace formula.” The Ukrainian president said he had “productive negotiations” with the president of Switzerland and that they are planning a global peace summit with their teams already working on it. Zelensky invited “every leader and country that respects peace and international law to join us.” He also urged the global community to remain in solidarity supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression which von der Leyen agreed with on her call to EU member states for Ukraine financing through 2024 and beyond. Sullivan said the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine, emphasizing: “Through a combination of steady deterrence and steadfast diplomacy, we seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de-escalation.”
On global economic growth, Viet Nam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said it is “crucial” in creating and executing macro-policies that major economies especially step up dialogue and communication in a more “coordinated and collaborative” way to “foster new global growth.” He also stressed that pure economic growth should not come at the expense of social equity or environmental protection. In terms of what the future of AI holds, Chief Executive Officer of Accenture, one of the most powerful American businesswomen -Julie Terese Sweet spoke about how AI could impact the jobs sector. As Sweet remarked: “This will be a great technology if we can bring people in along in the journey.” She added that retraining employees has to be done according to their skills and talents, explaining that “well-paying jobs for people solve a lot of problems.” Davos participants were clear that AI will generate new jobs but that it must be utilized cautiously and in a judicious manner. As Chinese Premier Li Qiang emphasized there is a need with AI to balance development and governance. As Li Qiang commented: “We would like to step up communication and cooperation with all parties to improve the global AI governance medium.”
Further on AI, Israeli-American scientist and former Stanford University professor, Daphne Koller was optimistic about AI, highlighting the fact that AI solves “really hard problems that humans can’t.” As Koller said: “I think it is a very worthy goal – there are multiple other endeavors to undertake in AI and people are really bad at finding subtle patterns but AI could find them. She referred to the need to create AI-capable computers that can find these subtle patterns within the contexts of weather, finance, health and a host of other areas. As Indian-American Executive Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella said: “We figured out how to produce a new battery that has 70% less lithium.” In terms of equitable, sustainable and secure energy transition, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said benefits include lowering energy bills and increased energy security. On Thursday, political and business leaders continued talks with participants including Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani and Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were among the speakers to address delegates at the Swiss town’s Congress Center.CNBC’s guests included the director-general of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Barclays Group CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan.
Photo : AA
