Business
concerns elbow out politics at Davos
By Peter Capella
AFP
GENEVA
Petroleumworld.com 01 25 06
After drawing political heavyweights and flirting with Hollywood
stars, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will return
to its roots on Wednesday by giving business concerns centre stage.
About half of the 2,340 participants invited to the select five-day
gathering of the world's political and business elite in the eastern
Swiss Alpine report of Davos will be corporate executives, the
organisers said.
Coinciding with a renewed surge in oil prices to close to 70 dollars
a barrel, a survey of the business participants -- including a
record 735 chief executives or chairpeople -- revealed widespread
concern about tight energy supplies.
This year's president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria -- where unrest is sparking
oil markets along with concern about Iran -- is scheduled for
his first major public appearance in Davos.
He is due to be accompanied by outgoing president Kuwaiti Energy
Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah, while oil and gas industry
chiefs have also been given greater elbow room this year.
Executives also acknowledged the growing economic weight of China
and India in the internal survey, prompting invitations to substantial
delegations from both Asian giants in the Swiss resort.
"These countries are transforming more rapidly than the developed
economies did and the knowledge and potential of their people
appear limitless," said James Turley, chief executive of
global consultants Ernst and Young on the WEF's website.
"Chinese and Indian companies have started to expand beyond
their home markets and some of these will become global leaders
in the coming years," he added.
China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, who also holds the keys to the
country's five-year economic planning cycle, will follow freshly
elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel in opening the summit.
However, a repeat of last year's agenda-setting initiatives on
tackling poverty or global warming is regarded as unlikely in
the absence of other major political movers and shakers from the
United States or Europe.
Middle Eastern peace brokers are focused on elections in Palestine
and Israel and Brazilian President Lula Ignacio da Silva has also
decided to cut short his run of Davos appearances in an election
year.
The business community is looking to Merkel's keynote speech Wednesday
for a response to their frustration with Europe's traditional
economic powers.
"Asia and Eastern Europe are in the fast lane and Western
Europe is under considerable pressure. So therefore Western European
states have to become more creative in how they deal with restructuring,"
said Martin Sorell, chief executive of British advertising group
WPP and a co-chairman of this year's forum.
"If you believe that 35-hour working weeks are more important
than economic growth then you have to remember what the costs
of that will be," he added, referring to labour legislation
in France.
French Economics and Finance Minister Thierry Breton and his British
counterpart Gordon Brown are expected in Davos, the organisers
said.
Other political figures include Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf,
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and his Turkish counterpart
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Despite an expected appearance by International Atomic Energy
Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, WEF executive chairman Klaus Schwab
admitted distaste with "politicised" issues such as
the nuclear standoff between the West and Iran.
That preference for a low key approach is also reflected in the
celebrity list, after Hollywood star Sharon Stone unexpectedly
obliged businessmen to dig deep into their pockets for mosquito
nets during a public session last year.
Angelina Jolie, who is also a UN goodwill ambassador for refugees,
plus rock stars and anti-poverty campaigners Bono and Peter Gabriel
are the only entertainers to survive the downsizing.
AFP
01/24/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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