WEF at Davos in a fractured world: Will the spirit of dialogue be exorcized or exercised?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The London-based Economist describes it as the “ultimate networking event"; The Guardian, a British daily, as the “last-chance saloon to save the old world order." The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international advocacy non-governmental organization and think-tank founded in 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab, and its annual gathering at Davos, Switzerland, was once billed as the biggest talk-show-cum-photo op in the post-Bretton Woods world.
It was known for drawing leaders from government, business, civil society and academia together to “discuss global issues and set priorities." This year’s meeting, its 56th, is no exception. Over 3,000 delegates, including more than 30 foreign ministers, 60 finance ministers and central bank governors and 30 trade ministers from 130 countries are expected to attend its sessions this week.
With India emerging as one of the “most active and visible national delegations," according to a WEF readout, more than 80 Indian CEOs are slated to attend, together with Union ministers and delegations from nine states. The hope, as always, is to attract interest and investment in India from the global corporations whose chiefs will be in attendance.
The theme for this year’s WEF huddle, ‘A spirit of dialogue,’ seems almost laughably naive, given how US President Donald Trump has spent his first year in office taking apart any semblance of it, as if it is something better exorcized than exercised. It is being held against a background of high geopolitical uncertainty, unrest in Iran, a war in Ukraine, civil war in Sudan, forced regime change in Venezuela and the distinct possibility of a rupture within the US-led military alliance Nato over Trump’s designs
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