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The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was held on January 15-19, 2024 in Davos--a ski resort near Zurich. This small Alpine town immortalised by Thomas Mann in his novel The Magic Mountain hosts the WEF every January since its inception in the early1970s. The WEF 2024 was held under the theme of "Rebuilding trust" emphasising the connection between global unity and a thriving future for all.
Klause Schwab has been "Mr Davos" since he set up the forum in the early 1970s and remains its executive Chairman. During the conference he at a press conference said "only personal interaction creates the necessary level of trust, which we need so much in our fractured world" to put further emphasis on the conference theme. He further added, "We as leaders in government, business, and society, bear a particular responsibility to rebuild trust in how we assume our role as trustees…Let's use this Annual Meeting to rebuild trust by exercising our trusteeship individually and collectively for safeguarding the future of humanity and nature".
The Forum attracted about 2,800 participants including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, South Korean President Yoon-Suk-yeo and US Climate envoy John Kerry.
Among the attendees, of notable interest, was Javier Milei, the recently elected far-right radical president of Argentina who flew to Davos to attend the WEF. He reportedly said on his way to Switzerland that he was attending the WEF to advocate for "freedom". Milei was one of the keynote speakers at the Davos summit and set out his ultra free-market capitalism agenda and declared, "Free enterprise capitalism is the only tool we have to end hunger and poverty'. Milei is, in fact, the new member joining the rank with far-right fascists around the world. They are all very divisive figures in their own countries including Milei.
But in Davos such controversial speech only led to form the basis for some small talk over canapes or coffee. But actual decisions made in the main hall or antechambers, differ markedly from what people like Milei espoused in their speeches.
Another interesting observation by AFR's European correspondent was the striking feature about the big Indian and Gulf presence and how their shopfronts, parties and panel sessions often seemed to be full of their own people.
The Iowa primary result dropped just as everyone was arriving in Davos. The possibility of Donald Trump staging a come back has been a very hot topic of discussion among political and business leaders in Davos centring around what will another Trump presidency mean for the world. Trump also scored another victory in New Hampshire's Republican presidential contest on last Tuesday (January 23), marching closer to a November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
The juggernaut is coming, and the world is transfixed. The Atlantic magazine's new special January-February 2024 issue is titled "If Trump Wins." It contains 24 essays from Atlantic staff writers warning about the horrors the nation and world face if Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20, 2025. The magazine's editor Jeffrey Goldberg also put a note of warning and said, "America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse".
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said that Europe must be "strong at home" and go on offensive in the face of a potential return of Donald Trump to the White House. "To attack properly, you need to be strong at home. Being strong means having a strong, deep market. Having a real single market." She added. But privately many chief corporate executives were thinking something very different - how that would affect their companies' share prices. Staying cautious may be the better option for business. While many US attendees found a second Trump presidency depressing and embarrassing, most European attendees were thinking about how to adapt to it.
According to the WEF's Global Risk Report for 2024, disinformation and misinformation pose the greatest threat and identified artificial intelligence (AI) as the primary source contributing to disinformation. The report ranked extreme weather event and the political polarisation as the second and the third risk factors.
IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva emphasised that governments needed to "wake up" to the risks of AI and disinformation. With the US election on the horizon, the risks of disinformation were "significant and potentially severe" and a "big driver of mistrust", she further added. Despite all those concerns Chancellor Jeremy Hunt welcomed AI and canvassed for a light touch approach to regulating AI.
A weakening global economy and trade, continuing inflationary pressures, a cost living crisis and war remain the major concerns for 2024 across the globe. ECB President Lagarde said she did not expect a return to economic "normality" in 2024. Speaking on the same panel, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala described the economy as "not normal, because trade growth is still trending below GDP growth". She further pointed out that geopolitical conflicts, disruptions in the Red Sea and elections around the world make it "difficult" to make forecasting. Germany's Minister of Finance Christian Linder described the current economic situation as a "new normal".
Given its global importance, the current Middle East crisis got very little attention at Davos. However, that did not stop Swiss prosecutors on Friday (January 19), to confirm that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had been the subject of criminal complaints during his visit to the WEF. The office of the Swiss Attorney General said, "The criminal complaint will be examined according to the usual procedure" as well as the question of diplomatic immunity of the individual concerned. Israel has been accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague by South Africa. In making its case, South Africa also named Herzog and other Israeli officials for expressing genocidal intent against the Palestinians.
The WEF is an exclusive invitation-only club limited to powerful governments, corporations and civil society leaders. Some even claim that the WEF is part of a global cabal that runs global affairs. It is also alleged that this "global elite" is more interested in maintaining current global status quo. These wealthiest and most powerful people who gather at Davoscome from very similar cultural and political background, mostly view politics from a centrist perspective.
While most of them are intelligent people, they never come up with any smart ideas. This indicates that they are muddling through fast moving global events and an uncertain future with very disjointed, or even very limited understanding of issues they are talking about. In fact, the talks at Davos rarely captured the zeitgeist or set the global agenda for the future.
There are now growing discussions around the relevance of the WEF and its legacy. Some critics have never believed that the WEF is making the world a better place - even if it likes to claim that for itself. One commentator described the pre-conference scene, "The limos have been booked. Hotels have loaded up with champagne. Shops have been converted into pop-up offices for the tech giants. The annual Davos talkfest is about to begin". Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar said, "I think Davos is totally irrelevant". According to an analyst of CNN, "It's a glitzy exercise often criticised as out of touch. It also looks increasingly out of date as the biggest war in Europe since 1945 deepens splits in the world economy".
John Harris the editor of POLITICO in an article referred to Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway to mention their views on the rich: "The rich are different from you and me" (Fitzgerald), "Yes, they have more money" (Hemingway). These quotes were used to allude to the attendees at the WEF. He then continued to say, "they also have more of other things: More invitations, more connections, more caterers ". Then further adding, but "what they do not have, most of them, any more than you do: original or penetrating insights into larger political currents buffeting the US and the world".
Also, AFR's European correspondent pointed out, "Ask almost anyone who is here, and they will tell you - some freely, some coyly - that their chief purpose in Davos is to get several weeks' worth of high-level business meetings and networking done in three to five days".
High level attendees at the WEF have thinned in recent years with key figures like US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Chinese President Xi Jinping not attending this year's summit. But these days Russian President Vladimir Putin is most definitely persona non grata at Davos.
The WEF's real impact falls far short of its lofty pronouncements. No wonder, many are now raising questions about whether Davos can continue to hang onto its reputation as an essential annual event for the rich and powerful or more precisely about its relevance and legacy. Despite such doubts the Davos gathering seems to pick up again and move on. Already decision has been announced to hold the next Davos meeting from January 20-24 in 2025.