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Davos in the New Millennium

A white DAVOS sets the tone every year for the Annual Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF). As the world’s leaders in academics, media, business, politics, etc gather in this snowy ski resort, a hushed anticipation sweeps away the feeling of dejavu one would normally feel for such a recurring event. Regular members of the WEF aside; the change from previous years is only among the leaders who govern the countries. In 1992 and 1998 Mian Nawaz Sharif represented Pakistan, in 1994 Ms Benazir Bhutto did. Mian Sahib’s visit to Davos in 1999 was cancelled, mainly because of the inability of WEF to arrange preferred accommodation in the Belvedere for the whole entourage and an appearance at short notice in any Plenary Session of the Summit. This year two regular Members of the WEF in their own right, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Chairman of the Privatisation Commission, Altaf Saleem, along with a couple of other prominent businessmen represented Pakistan. A vast improvement on the motley crowd our PMs used to fill their entourage with, stretched limousines included.

Traditionally, the Summit starts with the Opening Plenary on the last Thursday of January, 27 Jan began with a “Global update” moderated by Fareed Zakaria, Managing Editor, Foreign Affairs USA on “Politics: the rules of the game after Kosovo and East Timor”. The usual “Economics Update” was moderated this year by Martin Wolf of The Financial Times. CEO Pricewaterhouse Coopers, James J Schiro and Charles O. Holliday, Jr, Chairman and CEO DuPont debated on the “2000 Global CEO survey”. Sessions on “10 websites that will change the world”, “what are the limits of corporate response to crisis?”, “the real road ahead in technology”, and an “Environmental update” led to the Opening Plenary. Chaired by the Chairman WEF Dr Klaus Schwab, the Plenary Session was concerned with “New Beginnings: Making a Difference” and was addressed by President Ogi of the Swiss Federation. The Session was moderated by Paul Saffo and had among the speakers Professor Nasr, Head of Islamic Studies, George Washington University USA. The two key questions addressed were viz. (1) what are the new beginnings shaping the global agenda? and (2) what will make a difference in our new century? For the first time the participants had an electronic inter-active voting system to obtain instant reactions on key issues and what needed to be done, an overwhelming majority decided “climate change” was of the most concern. Thursday night there were independent Dinner Sessions with academics, experts, leaders, etc at various hotels around Davos. “Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and its impact beyond the US” was chaired by Erik Peterson, Senior VP and Director of Studies, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, USA, very enlightening in the context of future wars and a privilege to hear Professor Paul Kennedy of Yale and Edward Luttwak air their views.

Friday brought with it Sessions on economy, society, biotech/genetics, health and nutrition, geo-politics, education, religion (including one in Political Islam chaired by Gebran Tueni, a Publisher from Lebanon, participated by Vice President Ms Masoumah Ebtekar of Iran), environment, e-commerce, human rights, etc. British PM Blair gave an excellent presentation on the responsibility of business in support of governance, he spoke eloquently for the need of a “third way”. A dialogue between a host of leaders and Members WEF took place in panel discussions on Friday afternoon. The “India Evening” had all the top Indian fashion designers and dance troupes from various States, though some of the Indians were gracious in their invitations, the overall attitude focussed their outrageous maligning of Pakistan in international forums and persuaded most Pakistanis not to attend. Dinner Sessions had alternative medicine, family and civilization, imagination, philanthropy, etc as themes. “Money laundering” was chaired by Peter Eigen of Transparency International which is hosting a seminar, in which I will be participating, on “Corruption in Arms Trade” jointly with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SIPRI and Cambridge University, in Stockholm on 4-5 Feb, 2000. It was a great privilege to attend the Hungarian reception in the evening courtesy of the Hungarian Ambassador in Pakistan, His Excellency Janos Barabas. PM Orban made an excellent presentation for potential investors. On Saturday, subject matters were the “Economic re-shaping of Europe” with Corporate Performance, Islam outside the Middle East, Water Resources, Illegal Drugs, Ethnic Divisions, Internet Entertainment, Defusing the Pension Bomb, NGOs, Labour Unions, etc. The high point was US President Clinton’s plea to the assembled businessmen for responsible globalisation and a shared vision to spread the benefits thereof. In an unrelated question, the US President brought Kashmir into focus before this elite gathering, he exhorted all nations to get India and Pakistan together to resolve the problem. This made Kargil worth the sacrifice. The US President got a standing ovation and put the stamp on the first big event of the 21st century. Saturday ended with the usual gala Soiree for all the participants.
Sunday was mainly a Sports Day and Members were encouraged to participate in ski racing, sledding, etc. US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H Summers made an impressive presentation in the afternoon about the US geopolitical and economic views respectively at a Plenary Session. Dinner Sessions focussed on leadership, cost/environment, global marketing, consumers, etc.

Monday 31 Jan started with a Plenary Session on the “internet race” moderated by Nobuyuki Idei, President Sony and participated by Chairman AOL (or should I say AOL-Time Warner) Stephen Case, William Gates Chairman Microsoft, and Rupert Murdoch, Chairman News Corp. The merger of AOL and Time Warner had made it the biggest business conglomerate in the world. Later Sessions took in small wars, mergers and acquisitions, creativity and innovation, wireless revolution, going global, e-culture, cancer, brain-drain, media, stock exchanges, complementary medicine, business diseases, women leadership etc. On Tuesday the Plenary Session was on “worldwide web” with subsequent Sessions on technology, internet business, global governance, peace imperatives (participated by King Harald of Norway, Shimon Peres of Israel, President Marti Ahtisaari of Finland, Cardinal Arinze of the Vatican and Grand Sheikh Tantawi of Al-Azhar University). After honouring world artists at a Crystal Award ceremony followed by a reception in the evening the WEF Summit came to a close.

Other than those already aforementioned, there was a virtual who’s who of notables who took part in the Summit, among them Kenneth Courtis of Deutsche Bank, Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs, Rick Menell of Angovaal Mining, Orit Gadiesh of Bain & Co., Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and Indian Finance Minister Sinha, George Soros of Soros Fund, President Akayev of Kyrgyzstan, President Kocharian of Armenia, PM Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Foreign Minister Kharrazi of Iran, Nobel Prize winner Professor Elie Weisel of Boston University, Taizo Nishimoro President Toshiba, US Senators Hatch and John Kerry, Gov Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey (who broke her leg on the Sports Day last year while skiing), Finance Minister Paul Martin of Canada, Minister of Trade Alec Erwin of South Africa, US Under Secretary of Treasury Stuart Eizenstat, Canadian Minister for International Trade Pierre Pettigrew, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard, PM Drnovsek of Slovenia, Foreign Minister Papandreou of Greece, PM Zeman of the Czech Republic, Finance Minister Arizaga of Ecuador, UN Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette, Editor Foreign Affairs Magazine James F Hoge, President Schuster of Slovenia, Industries Minister John Manley of Canada, Chairman Makihara of Mitsubishi, President Pastrana of Colombia, President de la Rua of Argentina, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, Finance Minister Eichel of Germany, Stanley Fischer Deputy Managing Director IMF, Senior VP Joseph Stiglitz of the World Bank, Finance Minister Manuel of South Africa, Deputy PM Balcerowiz of Poland, Deputy PM Figaredo of Spain, Former Irish PM Mary Robinson UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, President Mbeki of South Africa, Robert Hormats of Goldman Sachs, PM Aznar of Spain, Fresco Chairman Fiat, US Senator Bill Frist, US Secretary Commerce William Daley, Deputy PM Panitchpakdi of Thailand, Minister Trade Yeo of Singapore, President Boeing Company Philip Condit, Professor Rudi Dornbusch of MIT, Deputy PM Jorritsma-Lebbink of Holland, President Kuchma of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Amre Moussa of Egypt, Vice Premier Bangguo of China, William Safire of New York Times, Nicholas Oppenheimer Chairman de Beers, President Yasser Arafat of Palestine, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, President Hewlett Packard Carleton Fiorina, Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg, President Bouteflika of Algeria, Professor Lester C Thurow of MIT, etc to name only a small fraction of those who participated in one or more discussions.

Davos gives one of the best opportunities in the world to solicit investment for one’s country in a networked atmosphere and while one can understand why in the present environment the Chief Executive did not make the journey in support of his Finance Minister, Davos is a must event for the Head of Government every year without fail. As one of the participants once said, “where else in the world can you get so many captains of the world in so many fields under one roof in an informal, congenial environment for several days?”.

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