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The Davos Principle

Approximately 150 kms from Zurich high up in the mountains nestles the Swiss winter resort of Davos. Surrounded by beautiful mountains, literally brimming with ski slopes, the entire region is a playground of the rich and the unscrupulous, the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful. Switzerland has many locations that can match the spectacular landscape surrounding Davos, it has become host to an annual international cosmopolitan event that makes it unique. No comparable town or city in the world can boast a similar collection of world leaders, intellectuals, politicians, industrialists, financial experts and commercial chief executives assembling on a yearly basis at one place at one time to engage in intellectual discourse. The initiative of private enterprise, the World Economic Forum created an opportunity for a combination of such leaders to tackle the world’s current problems, evoking analysis and debate in congenial non-partisan surroundings. The session at Davos is called the Annual Conference, regional forums are held throughout the year in locations within various target regions. It also gives an opportunity for developing countries to have the undivided attention of a broad spectrum of decision-makers of the First World, to put across their viewpoint in a dialogue that is at once informative and thought-provoking. Many misconceptions are laid to rest at the Davos doorstep.

The Davos Principle can be best explained by quoting from the Annual Report 1991-92 and annunciating four important factors, (1) government and business need to cooperate closely to meet the challenges of global interdependence, they cannot do so by themselves separately (2) the best minds from the science and academic have to stimulate thinking to meet such challenges (3) what counts is not paperwork or resolutions but individual leadership in the right direction, based on new insights and ideas, the global inter-action process must be informal, flexible, efficient and action-oriented (4) the world is characterized by a fast acceleration of processes, true globalization and mega-competition, this means that global networking is the key success factor for optional strategic positioning. The World Economic Forum is thus an exclusive club that has the necessary flexibility and intellectual capability to be at the forefront of geo-political, economic and business developments. It provides its members, who share the costs of its funding and maintenance, a forum which is not based on formal obligations but on a shared spirit of entrepreneurship in the global interest. The Annual Meeting at Davos has had manifold repercussions on the political, economic and business levels. The Davos Principle is simple, the inter-action process is informal, direct, no-nonsense and hard-working in a friendly atmosphere, contributing to creating lasting partnerships and genuine friendships.

There are presently over 900 members of the World Economic Forum, to illustrate how important many countries consider this exercise, at least 25 Heads of State or Government were present in Davos in the Annual Meeting during the period of 28 January – 02 February 1993. The organizers of the 1993 Conference included the Meeting Chairman, Hans Dietrich Genscher, former Foreign Minister of Germany, Karl Otto Pohl, Secretary of State for Finance of Germany responsible for international monetary and fiscal policy, formerly Governor, IMF and President Deutsche Bundes-Bank, Akio Morita, Chairman of the Board of Sony Corporation and Edgar Woolard, Chairman and Chief Executive EI du Pont De Nemour and Company, USA. The Meeting Rapporteur was Raymond Barre, former PM of France. Among the Heads of State and Government who took part in various workshops, panel discussions and inter-active sessions other than Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan were Esko Aho, Prime Minister of Finland, Sali Berisha, President of Albania, Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden, Victor Chernonmyrdin, Prime Minister of Russia, Anatoly Chubais, Deputy PM of Russia, Alberto Dahik, Vice President of Slovenia, Abrilfez Elcibey, President of Azerbaijan, Boris Fedorov, Deputy PM of Russia, Ivars Godmanis, Prime Minister of Latvia, Vaclaw Klaus, Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Vim Kok, Deputy PM of the Netherlands, Leonid Kravchuk, President of Ukraine, Ruud Lubbers, PM of the Netherlands, Vladimir Meoiar, PM of Slovenia, Carlos Saul Menem, President of Argentina, Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhastan, Supacha Panitchpakdi, Deputy PM of Thailand, Stanislaw Shuskavich, Chairman Supreme Soviet Belarus, Hanna Suchocha, PM of Poland, Annuay Virana, Deputy PM of Thailand and Zhelye Zhelev, President of Bulgaria. Numerous other Ministers from various countries and senior officials of various international institutions took part in the proceedings.

In the opening Workshop of “Meeting the Press” on the first day, a special workshop on how to communicate effectively with the media, the discussions were led by Heinz Goldman, Chairman Goldman Foundation and among the star studded galaxy of participants were Colin Chapman, MD Financial Times TV, Philip Crawley, Editor, South China Morning Post, Axel Krause, International Herald Tribune, Pierre Salinger, ABC News and Richard Smith, Editor-in-Chief and President, Newsweek. For the Introductory Session as to “What could be the biggest surprise of the 90s?” the discussions were led by Raymond Barre and Lord Tebbit. “The New economic role of women” was a workshop participated among others by Xu Meihua, a senior official of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Peoples Republic of China, Gabrielle Roland, Vice Chairman, Institute European du Leadership, France and others. The opening Session of the World Economic Forum, an introduction into the “Davos Club” was done by Dr. Klaus Schwab, Founder and President World Economic Forum, followed by a discussion led by him on “Rallying all the Forces of Global Recovery”, participated in by Adolf Ogi, President of the Swiss Confederation, Helmert Manchir, Chairman of Nestle and Akio Morita, Chairman Sony.

It would be impossible to list all the sessions and participants crammed into the five day intensive session, (including one day for Sports activities) but some that need mention are “State of the World Economy”, participants Fred Bergeten, Director, Institute of International Economics, USA, Akio Morita, Sony Corp and Karl Otto Pohl of Germany, Lester Thurow, Dean Sloan School of Management, MIT, USA, Tadao Chino, Japanese Vice Minister Finance and Honst Koehler discussed “Policy Coordination in a Competitive/Cooperative International Economy”. Amre Moussa, Foreign Minister of Egypt and Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel participated in a discussion on “New Prospects in the Middle East”. Richard Gardner, Professor of International Law, Columbia University, USA, moderated discussions on “Local conflicts — the biggest security threat of the 90s?” and Maroin Zonis acted for the session “The social cost of fast transformations and privatisations”. In “The future of nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe?” Leonid Kravchuk, President of Ukraine took part. Richard Breeden, Chairman SEC, USA, the man who gave a new name to accountability by sending the billionaire (many times over) and Junk Bond King, Michael Milken, to jail, took part in discussion related to “The financial guides to stimulate the recovery of the US economy”, moderated by Lou Dobbs, MD CNN Business News. A Special Session attended by 15 participants at each table, with different world leaders, Heads of international organizations, etc was devoted to World Economic Brainstorming. Richard Perle, formerly of the National Security Council, USA spoke on US and World Security at a later session. “Europe and its role in the World” was moderated by Ruud Lubbers, PM of the Netherlands while Senator Bill Bradley and Governor William Weld of Massachusetts led the discussions on “USA and its role in the World”. We had discussions on the Balkan Area, China, Russia, Central Asia, etc participated in by world leaders, specifically from the concerned regions, with the audience allowed to ask the panelists questions before each session ended.

The discussions on Central Asia on Sunday 31 January 1993 comprised a blue-ribbon panel comprising of President Nur Sultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhastan, President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, Governor M.H Adeli of the Central Bank of Iran and Mr Berkin, the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Turkey. The discussion was moderated by Daniel Yergin, President Cambridge Energy Research Associates, USA. As expected, the hall was packed, standing room only. President Nazarbayev set the tone by elaborating upon the artificial and enforced separation of the peoples of Central Asia with their culturally identifiable brethren to the South i.e. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. He spoke of the historical trade ties that linked the region and the need to exploit the vast mineral wealth of his country. President Karimov spoke about the dangers engulfing the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the need to pursue a secular rather than a theocratic route in the multinational association. He mentioned the immediate rail/road link with Turkey and Iran as well as the possibility of two more routes through Pakistan, the shortest distance to warm waters. He re-emphasized the secular nature of the evolving new Central Asian Republics, giving the example of the civil war in Tajikistan as to why it was necessary to ban Islamic parties. The Turkish representative emphasized the historical Turkish links with the new emerging nations and the steps taken to ease their economic path to a “soft landing” with respect to economic compatibility with the rest of the world.

Mr Adeli of Iran highlighted the important nature of the relationship based on religious and cultural identity. While everyone had touched on ECO, PM Nawaz Sharif gave it special emphasis for the development of a congenial trade region based on economic and historical affinities. Pakistan, he said, was the shortest route to the Indian Ocean and with peace in Afghanistan, the natural trade routes would be active again. The sum total of discussions was that each of the original three ECO countries, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey were extremely interested in bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the new States in trade, industry, commerce, communications, etc etc both within ECO and without.

The overall impression of DAVOS was one of frenetic, purposeful activity in a most congenial atmosphere, extremely well orchestrated. Most of the countries were well represented by government officials as well as non-government dignitaries, an extremely large percentage being businessmen. The “Club” atmosphere gave it an informality which was enthusiastically adopted by all the participants. In a world where most summit meetings and conferences are known for their failure, being stiff in formality and low on inter-action, Davos is a unique event that brings the leaders of the world in every sphere together in a more emphatic and effective manner than any other such event in the world. One must congratulate Dr Klaus Schwab and his associates for not only bringing the concept to function but to sustain it year after year with increasing enthusiasm among the participants.

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