WEF 2020 meeting ends with hopes for better, cleaner economy

Davos: Global leaders expressed hope for better economic growth with lesser trade tensions and a safer planet with commitments to work in areas like climate change, as the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum ended here on Friday.

In the closing session, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the world is a better place today but economic growth still remains sluggish, though the momentum is expected to pick pace.

She also said the Indian economy is expected to bounce back, while she named Indonesia and Vietnam as the new bright spots in the emerging world, a place earlier occupied by India.

Borge Brende, President of World Economic Forum (WEF), in his closing remarks said the 50th annual meeting has been truly remarkable.

"It was remarkable due to the real progress that we created together on a spectrum of issues, on public/private collaboration, which is crucial.

"We laid the basis for a decade of delivery. The National Business Council, incorporating 140 of the world's largest companies, agreed to support efforts to develop a core set of common metrics and disclosures that could be used to measure private sector progress against key environmental, social and governance goals," Brende said.

He also drew attention to initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in Africa, work with the OECD to promote inclusive and sustainable growth

globally, introduction of a reskilling revolution and many other key deliverables and commitments.

"On civil society, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship announced that its community has improved the lives of more than 622 million people in 190 countries since 2000," said Brende. "A new multi-stakeholder effort aimed at supporting efforts to grow, conserve and restore 1 trillion trees by the end of the decade was announced."

"A new multi-stakeholder partnership - SDG 500 - was launched to mobilise $500 million towards achieving the SDGs in emerging markets to a series of six blended finance funds.

"Last, but extremely important, CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) today announced three programmes to develop vaccines against the Coronavirus," he added.