Davos set to highlight the known, maybe unknown, too

By Shabtai Gold Jan 26, 2011, 11:07 GMT

Geneva - Thousands of Swiss police and military officers are on guard around the ski resort of Davos, high in the Alpine mountains, as the clock ticks down to this week's annual World Economic Forum.

Austerity, while a buzzword in many Western capitals implying harsh budget cuts, will be less felt at the meeting this year than at recent meetings since the global economic crisis began. With businesses and leading companies rallying back on the markets, the mood will be brighter on the so-called Magic Mountain.

Another evolution noticeable will be the number of high-profile delegations from the emerging and developing worlds.

Embassy officials at normally quiet compounds of several Asian countries in Switzerland are scrambling as their capitals send large delegations to the Davos meeting.

Increasingly, some of the top-ranking politicians coming are from nations that just a decade ago might have seen their invitation to the event lost in the mail.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be there, but the opening speech is to be given by Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, and large delegations from China, India and Indonesia are likely to dominate.

This, however, is not a change being led by the World Economic Forum, but rather reflects what is going on in the real world: the rebalancing of global power to the G20, the expanded group of nations spearheading the recovery.

As newcomers are told by the old hands who attend the forum, Davos can never really do what it promises: to solve problems. For 41 years, it has largely been failing in that objective. But it does focus the debate, even if not sharply.

This year's list of global issues to be tackled includes about three dozen items, ranking from global market volatility and climate change to migration.

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab framed his objective for 2011 by asking: 'How we can address risks in a much more pro-active and systemic way?'

He noted that there are 'so many complex challenges at the same time.'

However, there are also often repeated criticisms of the high- profile event - drawing some of the biggest names in politics, economics, business and even humanitarian aid work.

The elite touch base with each other in Davos, where politicians and big business are thrown into the same small village for five days of discussions and several night-time parties. Whether this primarily solves the world's problems or helps promote less altruistic business deals is an ongoing debate.

Furthermore, the forum misses key events.

Schwab said recently that the meeting aims to give a 'strategic overview of all that is important on the global agenda.'

But even as Greece was floundering a year ago, with many market watchers preparing for an inevitable bailout, the World Economic Forum did not really see the looming, full-blown euro crisis that dominated much of 2010.

Davos-goers did, however, repeatedly underscore the fears of a jobless recovery.

New data from the International Labour Organization clearly shows that unemployment stayed stubbornly high in 2010, as many predicted last year in Davos.

But the predictions failed to produce the tangible results craved by out-of-work citizens. The jobless face what the ILO says is a real chance that long-term unemployment will demolish their chances of again finding dignified work.

Heady economists said to all who would listen that China was developing bubbles in some areas of its economy. A year later, as those bubbles grow to a size that cannot be ignored, the warnings from the previous meet ring true, even with Beijing now being courted more than ever.

But the five days in Davos, this year under the slogan 'Shared Norms for the New Reality,' might still be worth watching for glimpses into the minds of leaders and the chance to hear their talking points at such a unique venue for sharing ideas.