WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING 2015-DAVOS 21-24 JANUARY

The Theme for 2015 The New Global Context

Complexity, fragility and uncertainty are all challenging progress at global, regional and national levels, potentially ending an era of economic integration and international partnership that began in 1989. What is clear is that we are confronted by profound political, economic, social and, above all, technological transformations. They are altering long-standing assumptions about our prospects, resulting in an entirely “new global context” for future decision-making. This new context requires a greater awareness of the near and long-term implications of the following trends and developments:

• The systemic impact of deepening geopolitical fault-lines, decreasing multilateral cooperation and increasing strategic competition.
• The expected normalization of monetary policy through the reduction of quantitative easing and a future rise in interest rates.
• The continuing erosion of trust in public and private sector institutions, and the deteriorating dialogue between government and business globally.
• The breadth and velocity of scientific and technological advances that are considered inspiring and empowering as well as disruptive and ominous.
• The inability to significantly improve the management and governance of critical global commons, most notably natural resources and cyberspace.
• The ecological, societal and business repercussions of unabated climate change, youth unemployment and income inequality.
• The generational shift from societies sharing common values to those that are primarily interest-driven, and the related rise of sectarianism, populism, nationalism and statism.

 In response, and more than ever before, leaders are looking to strengthen their situation awareness and contextual intelligence. In this regard, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting provides an unparalleled platform for leaders to develop the necessary insights, ideas and partnerships to respond to this new context. It achieves this by convening global leaders from across business, government, international organizations, academia and civil society in Davos for strategic dialogues which map the key transformations reshaping the world in 2015.

The Annual Meeting remains the foremost venue to shape and develop global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of the year.

Based on the principle that a multistakeholder, systemic and future-oriented approach is essential in this new context, the issues to be addressed through sessions, taskforces and private meetings at the Annual Meeting 2015 include:

The Global Agenda

The Annual Meeting 2015 is where 250 top political leaders gather to discuss with the heads of international organizations and with business leaders how global governance can be improved through public-private cooperation. These discussions will be prepared in close collaboration with the respective international organizations, aimed at providing substantial, yet informal, input into major global processes.

The Economic Agenda

The Annual Meeting 2015 aims to convene all of the main stakeholders entrusted with delivering sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Top-of-mind will be how to meet expectations in the face of lower global growth and looming geopolitical risks. The presence of key economic decision-makers, such as the G20 finance ministers and heads of central banks, will ensure the highest possible impact of the Annual Meeting.

 The Regional Agenda

The Annual Meeting 2015 will explore in depth the social and political transformations occurring in all regions of the world. Emphasis will again be on the key actors, policies and structures that are pivotal in addressing a wide range of regional and national challenges. The informal interaction of political leaders from around the world creates unique opportunities for renewed progress on major issues. As in the past, the Annual Meeting will offer many private opportunities to discuss specific trade and investment-related issues in various national and regional contexts.

The Industry and Business Agenda

The Annual Meeting 2015 is the world’s leading platform for strategic insights into the future evolution of industry ecosystems and business models, particularly in the context of scientific, technological and policy innovations. The informal interaction of industry leaders with their peers from government enables innovative ideas and proposals to be acted on by building trust and by identifying delivery gaps. Each industry will engage in strategic dialogues that map the trends, drivers and opportunities transforming their industry, globally and regionally.

The Future Agenda

The Annual Meeting will explore the ideas, innovations and discoveries that will reshape our world by working closely with those at the vanguard of change from such fields as the arts, media, medicine, science and technology. “New Champions”, representing leaders of the Millennial Generation, will play a significant role in the design and development of the various sessions focusing on the future.

The World’s Foremost Multistakeholder Community of Leaders

Participation in the Annual Meeting is by invitation for the following Forum communities:

• Chief executives and chairs of 1,000 Partner and Member companies
• Political leaders (from the G20 and other relevant countries)
• Heads of international organizations
• Experts representing Global Agenda Councils
• Representatives from all civil society communities
• Young Global Leaders
• Social Entrepreneurs
• Technology Pioneers
• Global Shapers (under the age of 30)
• Media leaders
• Spiritual and cultural leaders

 This Annual Meeting will also inaugurate Transformation Maps to frame global, industry and regional issues. These maps will be reviewed by 1,000 of the world’s top experts at the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai in November. At the Annual Meeting, participants can use the maps to understand the key drivers of change, as well as the emerging trends reshaping the world. And in the true “Davos Spirit”, the aim is to highlight not only future risks and opportunities but also to elaborate bold ideas and strategic options to consider in the year ahead.

Summary of Themes

1. Climate Change: Al Gore will be demanding action on climate change. Last year was the warmest on record and climate change will be high on the agenda. Al Goe, the former Vice-President of the U.S. who has described climate change as the 'biggest challenge our civilisation faces, is taking centre stage alongside Pharrell Williams, the pop star who sang 'Happy' but who appearing as creative director of Bionic Yarn, a company that turns fibres from recycled plastic into durable textiles. Gore is participating in other events looking at how business should respond to climate change, along Lord Stern, president of the British Academy and speakers from the insurance company Axa. Other events covering this topic include 'Building for the Storm', asking how governments should respond to climate change. Another session will look at how a comprehensive global climate deal can be achieved.
2. Political Instability: Conflict is the number one issue for the political and business elite this year. The rise of Islamic State has awoken fears over failures of national governments and the collapse of nation states. Several Middle Eastern leaders are in attendance, including Egypt's president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi; King Abdullah of Jordan; Haidar al-Abadi, prime minister of Iraq, and Massoud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdistan region. The Ukraine crisis is reminder that 'long-forgotten' disputes can flare back into life with widespread consequences for the whole region. Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine will be looking for support as his country risks defaulting on its debts. Poroshenko should get support from George Soros, the billionnaire investor and philanthropist, who is pushing European governments to offer Kiev more help. He will be lobbying the likes of Germany's Angela Merkel, France's François Hollande and Italy's Matteo Renzi. The terror attacks in France this month will also be debated, just days after many heads of government marched in Paris. Former UK prime minister Tony Blair will take part in a session examining whether religion is a pretext for conflict.
3. Pandemics: Global authorities were slow, at least initially to respond to the Ebola outbreak and provide resources to the countries affected. So what lessons can we learn? Panellists discussing this subject include Koffi Annan, former secretary general of the UN as well as Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, Alpha Condé, the president of Guinea who has faced accusations of being initially slow to respond to Ebola, is also speaking.
4. Technology: Cyber-security will be high on the agenda in davos. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, is among those speaking on the topic of 'In Tech We Trust'. Eric Schmidt, the boss of Google is one of this year's co-chairs. Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Satya Nadella of Microsoft will also be involved in a debate on the future of the digital economy. Cyber-security should be high on the agenda too, following David cameron's controversial suggestion that governments should be given access to encrypted data. Jack Ma, founder of China's search engine Alibaba is also a key speaker.
5. Quantitative Easing: World markets were rocked after the Swiss National Bank dropped its ceiling on the Swiss Franc. Central banks will be a major topic of conversation in the meeting rooms, coffee shops and bars of Davos this week, as monteray policy in Europe and the US continues to diverge and inflation falls across the global economy. The shock abolition of Switzerland's currency gap last week has left many financial firms nursing losses, and reminded us all that 2015 could be a turbulent year in the markets. Thomas Jordan, the Swiss Central Bank cheif who sparked the turmoil, can expect a lively reception. At least seven other central bank chiefs are also attending, including the Bank of England, governor, Mark Carney. The European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario DRaghi isn't attending this year. He will be in Frankfurt handling the ECB's meeting on Thursday, where a big quantitative easing (QE) programme could be announce. Earlier that day a debate will take place on the prospects of higher interest rates in the U.S. Delegates from emerging markets will be pushing American officials to handle the ending of the QE programme responsibly, after seeing 'hot money' pour into their economioes. They don't want a repeat of the currency crisis that struck Argentina during last year's meeting.
6. Inequality: Income inequality has featured highly on Davos's agenda for several years, but progress remains disappointingly low. There is a rising socioeconomic inequality driving 'social fragility'. The average income of the richest 10% of nations in the OECD is now nine times larger than that of the poorest 10%. The global unemployment is expected to remain at current levels until 2018, showing the failure to tackle the challenges thrown up by the financial crisis. Bill and Marissa Gates, and the Oxfam International executive director Winnie Byanyma will be putting the case for more support for developing nations. Byanyma has extra clout as a co-chair of this year's meeting. The OECD chief Angel Gurria and Guy Ryder of the International Labour Organisation will be lobbying for workers to get a better deal.
7. Oil: Brent  rude has tumbled over the past 12 months. The tumble in the oil price to five-year lows means different things for Davos attendees. It's a bitter blow to exporters, raising political risk in the Middle East and hitting growth in merging markets. Once he arrives in Switzerland, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Opec's secretary general will face criticism from producers over the cartel's refusal to cut supplies. Western leaders are more sanguine, welcoming the boost to consumers' spending power. Environmental groups,; though will be urging oil producers not to drag their feet over green technologies.