Tuesday, November 5

World Economic Forum 2018: Key Highlights After First Day of the Conference

The year is 2018 and World Economic Forum is bigger than ever, the reason is obvious- ‘India’. There are several highlights that we’ll be talking about later, but the World Economic Forum is perhaps one of the biggest platforms in the world on which Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s hosted an opening session, sharing his views and inviting global CEOs to India for business opportunities.

Accompanied by several ministers, a high-powered business delegation, and two yoga instructors who will host yoga training sessions for the entire duration of the week-long gathering, PM Modi’s speech was very inspiring making every sector of the gathering, be it strong business leaders or other delegates that India has really emerged out loud and bold and will be the “future superpower”.

What is World Economic Forum?

Many of us have bits of knowledge about World Economic Forum but lack the knowledge of its purpose of existence and the major role it has played in history. Founded by Klaus Schwab, a German business professor at University of Geneva, back in 1971, the forum was earlier called “European Management Forum” and sought to introduce European firms to American management practices.

The first conference took place in 1971 and was attended by 444 executives from Western European firms in Davos Congress Centre, Davos, Switzerland. It was soon realized that European Management Forum can be a better platform in solving international conflicts and hence broadened its vision renaming it to ‘World Economic Forum’.

World Economic Forum is organized every year in Davos, a beautiful town in Switzerland which is otherwise famous for ski resorts and snow filled mountain peaks.

Get a quick glance at some of historic events that took place at World Economic Forum:

 

‘India’ as the highlight of World Economic Forum

The Geneva-based WEF is hosting its 48th annual meeting here that began on Monday (January 23, 2018), where more than 3,000 leaders from across the world are expected to participate in a high-profile talk fest for five days. The topic this year is- Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.

 

Addressing the crowd of global elites at the forum’s opening session, PM Modi made a reference to America’s rising protectionism and regression on climate change under President Donald Trump. Talking about measures that should be taken to “control carbon emission”, he talks about uniting irrespective of geographical boundaries. He did not name any country, but in his 50 minutes speech, he asked the developed countries to suggest measures or give out hand to the underdeveloped countries to fight terrorism or take care of the pollution.

 

He  also attacked the US’s recent retreat into protectionism. “Many societies and countries are becoming self-centred. It seems that globalisation, as opposed to its definition, is shrinking. Such misplaced preferences can’t be considered any lesser threat than terrorism or climate change. We must admit the shine of globalisation is fading,” the PM said.

 

The World Economic Forum forecasts India as the world’s fastest growing GDP in the world at 7.4% in the year 2018, putting it ahead of China which is expected to grow at 6.6%.

 


The World Economic Forum also awarded Indian Bollywood celebrity Shahrukh Khan, Crystal Award for raising human rights awareness. He was awarded for his non-profit foundation, Meer Foundation, which provides support to female victims of acid attacks and major burn injuries through medical treatment, legal aid, vocational training, rehabilitation and livelihood support.

Talking more on the energy conservation methods adopted by India, Piyush Goyal told about the campaign started by the Government in 2015 to replace all lightning by LEDs . He shared that in three years, the Indian Government has replaced 800 billion bulbs with LEDs in the country, and falling the price by 87%.

 

India’s presence can noticeably be seen at Davos, hundreds of Indians strolling down the snow covered roads. The first day ended in delight, Indians put a  presentation to be remembered for years for sure!