The 71st Davos Forum Conference, which brings together 2,500 global elites, was held in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, and there are 5 things to watch in this conference, ranging from economic crises to preparing for the next pandemic, the first since January 2020 after failed attempts to hold it due to the “Covid” pandemic 19".

The British Financial Times published a report on the forum, quoting Klaus Schwab, founder of this World Economic Forum, as saying that he considers this year's conference 2022 the most important since the forum's establishment.

The report said that the background to the current forum will be the war in Ukraine, the unresolved epidemic, rising climate risks and a rapidly deteriorating economic outlook.

He added that the period of the epidemic and the war destabilized the system represented by Davos, and that one of the topics that revolve in the sessions deals with whether the system of globalization and cooperation for which the forum stands is still working.

The collapse of an entire era

The report also quoted Schwab as saying earlier this week that the history books would record that Russia's attack on Ukraine marked "the collapse of the post-World War II and post-Cold War order."

Russian politicians and CEOs were barred from the meeting, at which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a video address on Monday.

The big question will be whether delegates can make progress on a Marshall-style plan for eventual reconstruction of Ukraine, more sanctions against Russia, how to deal with Ukrainian refugees, and how to stem the food crisis spreading from Europe's traditional "breadbasket".

The Ukrainian President delivered his speech to the video conference (Reuters)

A worrying moment for the global economy

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and nearly 50 finance ministers will be under pressure to offer new solutions to the challenges of high inflation and recession fears.

The most important global risks recorded by the Forum's report last January, as in early 2020, were elites' fears that governments, companies and financiers were doing little to avoid irreversible climate change.

pandemic preparedness

Davos 2022 is keen to avoid repetition, as it has scheduled several meetings on preparing for future pandemics, new surveillance systems are expected to be announced, and a focus on providing more vaccines to the poorest and least immunized populations, and a new consortium bringing together ministers, executives and international organizations will “accelerate Collective action across key resilience drivers of the global economy.

At the top of CEOs' concerns this year is the so-called "big quit", an ongoing economic trend as employees began voluntarily quitting their jobs en masse starting in early 2021, possibly due to stagnant wages amid the rising cost of living and long-term job dissatisfaction. Safety concerns from the “Covid 19” pandemic, the desire to work for companies that have better policies for remote work, and some economists have described the major resignation as akin to a general strike.

Executives' concerns also include how to make supply chains less vulnerable, and these issues are clearly questions about the direction capitalism will take.