AIR Spotlight: World Economic Forum 2023

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio News on air. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation.

This article is about the discussion on the 53rd Edition of the World Economic Forum.

Participants:

1. Anil Wadhwa – Former Diplomat
2. Rajesh Lekh – AIR Correspondent

Context – The 53rd edition of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting started on January 16, 2023, in Davos, Switzerland. It will continue till January 20. The theme for this year’s WEF is ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’. 

World Economic Forum –

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The WEF annual meeting in Davos (Switzerland) engages the world’s top leaders to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
• The WEF was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab. It was formerly known as the European Management Forum and changed its name to World Economic Forum in 1987.

Know more about the World Economic Forum in the linked article.

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting – 2023

Theme – Cooperation in a Fragmented World 

The 53rd Annual Meeting focuses on solutions and public-private cooperation to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. The congregation of experts, academics, investors, and political and business leaders will discuss some of the pressing issues the world is facing today, such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis, global inflation and climate change and promote innovative solutions.

• It encourages world leaders to work together on the interconnected issues of energy, climate, and nature; investment, trade, and infrastructure; frontier technologies and industry resilience; jobs, skills, social mobility, and health; and geopolitical cooperation in a multipolar world.
• The theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” is apt as the world is facing increased fragmentation on a global and national level due to political, economic and social forces. WEF’s recently published Global Risks Report talks about the “polycrises” affecting the interconnected world. These intersecting crises range from climate change and energy shortfalls to food insecurity and forced migration.
• This annual meeting lays a special focus on gender and geographical diversity across all sessions. This year will bring about the highest-ever business participation at Davos, with over 1,500 leaders registered across 700 organisations, including over 600 of the world’s top CEOs with top-level representation from sectors, such as financial services, energy, materials and infrastructure, and information and communication technologies.
• World leaders are expected to share their insights on the prevalent economic conditions across the globe. According to the WEF’s annual Global Risks Report, recession threat, cost-of-living crisis and debt distress are likely to dominate the outlook for at least two years.

Developing Resilience – Building new muscles for tomorrow

• Developing a resilient mindset will help organisations develop strategies that position them well for longer-term risks and structural changes.
• In 2022, the world confronted highly connected, complex and political, economic and societal risks, recovery from the pandemic, the Russia -Ukraine war, high inflation and climate change events. Organisations should refocus their risk management and resilience approaches to prevail over these crises and prepare for future risks.
• The organisations should consider focusing their resilience efforts on green energy, climate and nature investments (for a net zero future), improving employee health and well-being and strengthening cyber resilience (which evolves as rapidly as new technology).

Read previous AIR Spotlight articles in the link.

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