The World Economic Forum is currently celebrating 50 years of being the biggest global gathering of senior economic and political decision makers. During these years, the forum saw many key events including a meeting between Turkish and Greek Prime Ministers in 1988, which de-escalated tension between the two sides and allowed the region to avoid military escalation, Deputy Head of the forum’s Center for Geopolitical and Regional Affairs Mirek Dusek, told KUNA on Monday.
Also, forming the G20 group was the forum’s idea in 1998, to establish an international institute that includes developed and emerging economies under one roof, he said. He added that the forum has also included the industrial changes in the world caused by IT revolution into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as the forum’s Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab wrote his famous book the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in 2016. The book underlined the importance of cooperation between the government, business sector and NGOs to face the rapid technological changes in the world.
Meanwhile, Dusek noted that the forum entered the Arab World early in 1976, organizing the first Arab European seminar on commercial cooperation. The three-day event was attended by 1,500 senior executive officials, including 400 Arabs. Moreover, the forum exerted great efforts to de-escalate tension between Arab and the West, following the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, he said.
Dusek added that the forum believes in the two-state solution as an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, building a community of Palestinian and Israeli business pioneers to support the solution. The event is an important stop for world leaders to hold dialogue, share information on upcoming challenges and means to face them in the upcoming 12 months, Dusek noted. The forum also strongly believes in giving youth the opportunity to play a role in decision making, as over 100 young leaders take part in this year’s edition, he added. Dusek affirmed that the forum will provide full support for implementing the articles of the Paris Agreement on climate change this year, including planting one trillion tree. The forum is held from January 20 to 24 with the participation of over 50 heads of governments and countries, about 3,000 of top decision makers, as well as heads of UN organizations, academics and NGOs.