Our Leaders are on Drugs

Davos is over; at least for 2009.

Here

As a by-stander, I am disappointed. Beyond re-iterating the existing gloom and sad stories, I can’t quite see an action plan in place. Platforms for discussions like the prestigious one in Davos tend to pride more on the fact that world leaders, diplomats and religious leaders made an appearance. Little is understood as to why they did it.

The message from the Annual Meeting is that leaders must continue to develop a swift and coordinated policy response to the most serious global recession since the 1930s: global challenges demand global solutions.

Honestly, did we need 4 of the heads of G8 counties to tell us that? What next?

Does the WEF have any follow up programme? How are we doing on the agendas that were set in the WEF 2005 (say) to tackle hunger in Africa? Or trafficking in Cambodia?

The greatest outcome of the Annual Meeting 2009 was that, despite the economic turbulence, people chose to come together in record numbers from industry, government and civil society to reflect on the seriousness of the global challenges we face and to connect and respond to such challenges.

Goodness! Is this the kind of conclusions that you would expect from history makers at a time in history like this?

The bottom line question is: Will the effort that went into staging the WEF this year pull the world out of recession? I doubt so. A lot will be achieved on the periphery.

In case you suspect, I am not a critic of the World Economic Forum. On the contrary, I am a keen follower of the event with the hope that something might get done that could improve the well-being of an old lady in the Andes, or a twenty five year old in the heart of India’s Silicon Valley.