The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting 2023 in the Davos, Switzerland was the largest in history, convening a record number of leaders from governments, businesses, and civil society.
What about the World Economic Forum (WEF)?
WEF - The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
WEF is known for its annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.
Objective - The forum strives to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance.
Founder Chairperson - Economist Klaus Schwab founded the WEF in 1971 and has been its chairperson since then.
WEF Partners - The WEF is largely funded by its partnering corporations.
Annual summit - WEF is known for its annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.
The theme of this year was ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’.
Major reports published by WEF
Global Competitiveness Report
Global IT Report
Global Gender Gap Report
Global Energy Transition Index
Global Risk Report
Global Travel and Tourism Report
What are the key takeaways from the WEF’s 2023 meeting?
Economy - Major economies such as the US, the European Union (EU) and China are seemingly beyond the risk of a recession now.
As the richer nations look to focus inwards, protecting their own workers, energy sufficiency, supply lines, etc., concerns were raised that this policy direction would hit developing economies.
A warning has been issued on friendshoring (limiting the trade of key inputs to trusted countries in order to reduce the supply chain risks).
Ukraine - Ukraine kept up its demand for more military aid to fight its war against Russia and more financial aid to rebuild after the war.
Climate - The World Economic Forum, supported by more than 45 partners launched the Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA).
It is a global initiative to fund public, private and philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) to help unlock the 3 trillion dollar of financing needed each year to reach net zero, reverse nature loss and restore biodiversity by 2050.
Pakistan brought up the issue of a loss and damage fund for the developing countries.
Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund is a financing mechanism that was agreed in COP27 of UNFCCC to compensate the most vulnerable countries from climate-linked disasters.
What does it hold for India?
India’s efforts - Global leaders hailed India for its strong ability to attract global investments amid a churning in the supply chains with its policies like Product-Linked Incentives (PLI).
IMF deputy managing director Gita Gopinath also praised India’s digital and physical infrastructure prowess and called for reforms in land and labour markets.
India is also expected to remain resilient despite the global slowdown impacting the emerging markets.
Projects launched - More than 50 “high-impact initiatives” was launched at the event.
Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA) signed a partnership with the forum on urban transformation.
A thematic centre on healthcare and life sciences is to be set up in Telangana.
