Davos 2010 ends discussions on global issues

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An overview captured during the session 'The Global Agenda 2010: The View from Davos' at the Congress Centre of the Annual Meeting 2010 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 31, 2010. The 40th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting closed in Davos on Sunday after discussing a wide range of global issues. [Xinhua]

An overview captured during the session "The Global Agenda 2010: The View from Davos" at the Congress Centre of the Annual Meeting 2010 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 31, 2010. The 40th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting closed in Davos on Sunday after discussing a wide range of global issues. [Xinhua]

World leaders on Sunday concluded their five-day discussions on post-crisis economic recovery, the improvement of financial regulation and climate change.

The world economy, after experiencing the worst ever crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, is recovering unevenly in different countries and regions, according to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Most participants believe the recovery is being led by fast growing emerging markets like China and India, while the United States and European nations are falling behind.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the recovery, though better than expected, is still fragile.

He urged governments to remain cautious as they examine exit strategies from the various stimulus packages they have implemented in response to the global crisis.

While there is a broad consensus to better regulate the global financial system, participants differed in what kind of changes should be made.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was among those who advocated a bold reform of the financial system. In his opening address on Wednesday he called for a "new Bretton Woods" so that new rules and institutions could be established.

"We will continue to make our economy run risks greater than it can bear, to encourage speculation and to sacrifice our long-term future, if we do not change the regulation of our banking system and the rules for accounting," he said.

However, a more cautious view on financial reforms has also been voiced. "We need good regulation, better regulation but not more regulation," said Lord Levene, chairman of British bank Lloyd's during the meeting.

"We need to fix the right types of changes... and we should not overreact or rush to short-term actions that may sound good or may grab headlines but quite frankly would not serve the fundamental problems all of us need to address," said Dennis Nally, global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose country will host this year's UN climate change conference, called on business and political leaders attending the meeting in Davos, a Swiss Alpine ski resort, to make concerted efforts for a "robust, substantial and comprehensive agreement" on climate change.

But he admitted that expectations for the conference were low, mainly because of the lack of a financing mechanism for clean energy projects.

He called on rich countries and enterprises to help with clean energy projects in developing countries so that they can realize low-carbon growth.

While it is not easy to reach agreement on such important issues as climate change and financial reform, all the participants agreed that global cooperation is necessary in addressing them.

"The storm has not subsided, and we have to continue working together like passengers on the same boat," said Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang in a special message to the meeting.

"The international financial crisis is not over yet and the foundation for economic recovery is still weak. Continued cooperation among countries is needed to avoid twists and turns and reduce risks in the course of recovery," he said.

Li also joined other leaders at the meeting in calling for open trade and the resistance against the rise of trade protectionism.

"We should promote more open market... Trade protectionist practice will only exacerbate the economic crisis, slow down the recovery process and ultimately harm the interests of the very countries who apply such measures," Li said.

The eight-year-old Doha Round of trade negotiations currently remain stalled, with 153 WTO members widely divided on complex issues of farm trade and industrial market access. A 2010 target to conclude the negotiations seems increasingly impossible to be achieved.

Some 17 WTO trade ministers or vice ministers met Saturday on the sidelines of the WEF meeting. They admitted there is still no breakthrough in the negotiations. The U.S. failure to send a ministerial official to the event showed that multilateral free trade talks are simply not its priority.

The annual forum also gave special attention to earthquake-devastated Haiti, with former U.S. president Bill Clinton calling on business leaders to provide urgent aid to help the country's reconstruction.

Other important issues discussed during the five-day meeting included situation in the Middle East and the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

This is the 40th annual meeting of the Geneva-based WEF, which drew the participation of more than 2,500 leaders worldwide representing business, government, civil society, academia and the media.

The Davos forum is not a decision-making place, said WEF officials. It's designed to provide a platform for stake holders worldwide to discuss pressing global issues.