VOL NO REGD NO DA 1589

Monday, January 23, 2006

HEADLINE

POLITICS & POLICIES

METRO & COUNTRY

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & MANAGEMENT

EDITORIAL

LETTER TO EDITOR

COMPANY & FINANCE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

GERMAN DAY OF UNITY

LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT

MARKET & COMMODITIES

SPORTS

WORLD

 

FE Specials

FE Education

Urban Property

Monthly Roundup

Saturday Feature

Asia/South Asia

 

Feature

13th SAARC SUMMIT DHAKA-2005

National Day of Australia

57th Republic Day of India

US TRADE SHOW

 

 

 

Archive

Site Search

 

HOME

BUSINESS & FINANCE
 
Davos mixes oil and water, east and west to attract big business
1/23/2006
 

          GENEVA, Jan 22 (AFP): Over the coming week, a small corner of the Swiss Alps will become a businessman's playground as more than 1,000 executives buttonhole rivals and political leaders on global challenges and deals, in between runs down ski slopes for the fittest.
The annual, clubbish, meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) regularly draws a sizeable chunk of the world's corporate and political elite to the eastern Swiss resort of Davos.
After last year's foray into both poverty and climate change with Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder, Brazil's Lula or President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the organisers readily admit that the 2006 event has seen some political downsizing.
"Clearly one year on our minds are in a different place," said WEF managing director Ged Davis, announcing an economic bias to the five- day meeting starting on Wednesday.
This year's array of global concerns range from the growing weight of China and India, to fears of an oil and energy crisis or the strain on global water supplies.
Heads of state and government beyond freshly-elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be thin on the ground and the ministerial representation is dominated by finance and trade specialists.
About half the 2,340 participants expected in Davos are business chiefs-just 15 per cent of them women-including the heads of three-quarters of the top 100 ranked companies.
"The World Economic Forum tries to keep away from issues that are too politicised," Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman responded after being asked about the potential for talks on Iran.
"For me the key issue is the shift of the centre of gravity from the west to the east, the rise of China and India not as a threat, but as an opportunity," he told journalists.
Chinese Vice Premier and central economic planning chief Zeng Peiyan, and the governor of China's central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, who holds the key to the yuan's exchange rate, are due be accompanied by a showcase business delegation.
India's business community is also flocking to the Alps, along with commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath, who is due to take part in a trade meeting on the sidelines of the forum.
The WEF's mainly western, 20,000 dollar-a-year fee paying members highlighted the two Asian powers as areas of "immense" opportunity, but also signalled anxiety about low cost
competition, Davis said.
An internal survey found that energy related topics came top of their list of concerns.
"What is on the top of the agenda this year is energy security. Second climate change regulation and its impact on markets, third mid- to long- term supply uncertainties... and fourth new forms of terrorism," said energy specialist Christophe Frey.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries incoming president, Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria, last year's OPEC president and Kuwaiti energy minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah are expected to join oil and gas industry chiefs in Davos.

 

 
  More Headline
Davos mixes oil and water, east and west to attract big business
Global music fair opens as industry seeks to unlock digital dream
Asian Textile bags Best Award in DITF
Russia's Gazprom leans on C Asia to help meet European demand
Turkish firms halt petroleum export to Iraq
Chile, Thailand discuss joint study of FTA
Tourism earned China 96b dollars last year
ROK forecasts retail growth in 2006
 

Print this page | Mail this page | Save this page | Make this page my home page

About us  |  Contact us  |  Editor's panel  |  Career opportunity | Web Mail

 

 

 

 

Copy right @ financialexpress.com