The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022

May 27, 2022

In News:

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 came to an end on 26 May.
This was the first global in-person leadership event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

What’s in Today’s Article:

In Focus: World Economic Forum

About

The World Economic Forum is the international non-governmental organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
- It was founded in January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab.
The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
- It has no independent decision-making power.
HQ: Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland.

Davos meet:

Annually, the WEF organizes a meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland.
The Annual Meeting, also known as the Davos Agenda, has the objective of orienting global leaders on the imperatives of the year ahead.

Reports published

News Summary

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, being held at Davos, Switzerland, came to an end on May 26, 2022.
Theme of this year’s summit was - 'working Together, restoring Trust'.

Key highlights

Most critical edition so far
- This edition was one of the most critical so far, due to the vast changes the world has seen since the event was last held.
- With the pandemic in the background and the invasion of Ukraine in the foreground, the summit comes at a crucial geopolitical and economic moment.
- The world faces urgent challenges in humanitarian emergencies, energy and security, while not losing sight of the long-term commitments to transform, feed and decarbonize the planet.
Various issues discussed
- The global leaders and experts discussed various topics, ranging from trade deals and global cooperation to press freedom and the Ukraine conflict.
- The meetings were structured around six themes:
  - Promoting global and regional cooperation;
  - Ensuring economic recovery and building a new era of growth;
  - Building healthy and fair societies;
  - Safeguarding the climate, food supply and nature;
  - Promoting the transformation of industry;
  - Harnessing the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The global leaders will work on eight thematic priorities:

global cooperation; economic rebalancing; society and equity; climate and nature;
innovation and governance; industrial transformation; risks and resilience; and global health.

Global Digital FDI Flows Launched
- The summit saw the launching of a new initiative to boost flows of digital foreign direct investments
- It is a joint initiative of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) and the WEF.
  - The DCO focuses on digital economy initiatives supporting youth, start-up entrepreneurs and women.
  - It has nine member states with a combined GDP of nearly USD 2 trillion and a population of nearly 600 million.
- The agreement will see the DCO and WEF work together to identify methods to increase digital adoption, investment in new digital activities, and investment in digital infrastructure.
- Under the initiative, the DCO and WEF will launch Digital FDI Enabling Projects in countries around the world.
Defining and Building the Metaverse
- Forum announced a new initiative, Defining and Building the Metaverse.
- This initiative brings together key stakeholders to build an economically viable, interoperable, safe, and inclusive metaverse.
- Research suggests that the metaverse is expected to grow into an $800 billion market by 2024.

India at Davos 2022

India sent a record delegation this year
- From India, three union ministers -- Piyush Goyal, Mansukh Mandaviya and Hardeep Singh Puri -- participated.
- Beside them, several state leaders including two chief ministers -- Basavaraj S Bommai and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy – also participated in the meeting.
- India presented its position on critical global issues like the energy crisis, food security, and health equity at the summit.
Launch of Indian CEO Alliance
- The Forum launched the India chapter of the Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders to supercharge India's climate action and decarbonization efforts.
- Part of the WEF’s Climate Action Platform, the Alliance will continue efforts to achieve the vision of Mission 2070: A Green New Deal for a Net Zero India, on India's low-carbon transition by 2070.
India, leading the transition to green energy
- The participating Indian leaders highlighted the fact that:
  - 60 million people go to fill up their tanks every day in India; 5 million barrels a day is the Indian consumption.
  - The aim of a 20% ethanol blend has been pushed ahead from 2030 to 2025.
  - Green hydrogen, biofuel discovery, and production from alternate sources is being prioritised.
New $15 million investment to tackle freshwater crisis

With record-breaking heatwaves and droughts affecting the country, the meeting took some substantive action on freshwater conservation and management.
Global conglomerate HCL announced a partnership with UpLink, the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum.
Through a $15 million investment over five years, HCL will accelerate the innovation agenda for water.
It will create a first-of-its-kind innovation ecosystem for the global freshwater sector on UpLink.

Maharashtra joins the World Economic Forum in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution
- Maharashtra, India's largest state in terms of GDP, has joined the World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP).
- It has joined the platform to drive localized solutions for the circular economy.
India's role in defining the metaverse
- The concept of the metaverse is new, but that hasn't stopped companies across the spectrum from making plans for engaging with it.
  - The metaverse refers to a virtual world where people can live, work and play via an avatar.
  - It doesn’t actually exist yet, but tech companies are investing billions of dollars into developing the technology.
- And it's no different for industry leaders in India.