The terms ‘change, reform and innovation' were the buzzwords of every meeting I attended during the annual session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, beyond the sessions on the Middle East. Personally, I associate change with unpleasant odors, such as in changing baby ‘diapers'. For people in our countries, change means changing regimes, laws and rulers themselves, and for rulers, it means changing the people and replacing them with obedient, thanksgiving and thankful citizens even if they were hungry. Perhaps they are indeed able to innovate in the East and the West. In our countries, however, innovation means blasphemy. Perhaps the annual session of the World Economic Forum is the most important meeting for the leaders of politics and business in the world, after the UN General Assembly. The number of businessmen and financiers at the forum surpasses that of the members of the UN General Assembly, but it is the opposite when it comes to the number of heads of states, prime ministers and officials. I do not think that the participants at the Davos conference were able to solve the problems of the world over five days of sessions tackling these problems, specifically 37 major issues, or one more issue in comparison with last year's conference. The Forum's report, which carried the title “The Outlook on the Global Agenda 2011”, identified four major issues that must be tackled in the upcoming twelve months, namely: Global economic and political power shifts, uncertainty in financial markets, resource scarcity, and institutional weakness. A survey of the participants in the conference meanwhile, found that growing economic disparity is one of the biggest risks facing the world in the coming decade. Not only is it immoral, but it is also dangerous, as it can lead to open conflicts. I will go beyond what I heard about the threat of European sovereign debt to the entire European economy and the euro, and focus instead on some observations. China was the star of the conference this year. Its economy is growing at a rapid pace, dwarfing other countries no matter what they do. India attempted to seize some of the light. There is competition between tigers and elephants, or between the two countries that together include a quarter of the world population. Brazil and Indonesia were also prominent, while Arab presence was somewhat limited. There were no Arab heads of state or prime ministers among the dozens of world leaders there, who were ‘a dime a dozen' in Davos. Nonetheless, I left them once to attend a session where it was argued that the world will not progress until women achieve full equality (tell that to the Arabs). Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had delivered the opening address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. However, his speech was delivered shortly after the terrorist attack on the Moscow airport. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also spoke, and weighed in on the debate regarding the euro, saying that it was created to last and that it represents European identity. I also saw Bill Clinton speak without his usual presidential aura, tackling the problems of Haiti and other issues. I was also surprised by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who called for a ‘revolution' to ensure sustainable growth around the world. The World Economic Forum is 41 years old. I have attended all its annual meetings in the second half of its life, and I partook for many years in the dialogue of Islam and the West. However, this dialogue was closed two years ago, and I now focus on my role in the media leaders group, which holds private meetings with heads of states, prime ministers and international business leaders. This year, our session was with the Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou and Greek Minister of Finance George Papaconstantinou. Papandreou said that Greece has achieved all the targets it had set to tackle its financial crisis. Then he and the Minister of Finance were quizzed by journalists. I waited until we left together and reminded him that we met a few months ago in Beirut. I told him that I understood that Greece is holding agreements with Israel because of its historical disputes with Turkey, and against the backdrop of the confrontation between Turkey and Israel. However – I said – I hope that this is not taking place at the expense of the special relation between Greece and Arab nations, since we consider Greece to be the European country closest to us. He replied: No, no. From day one, we told the Israelis that any agreement with them must not be at the expense of our Arab relations. Another session brought together media leaders with Scandinavian heads of state and prime ministers, including the Presidents of Iceland and Finland, and the prime ministers of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. They were normal people in ordinary clothes. If anyone of us were to see them in the street, they would appear to us as though they were low-income employees. The president looked like an aunty, and was slightly overweight, while her clothes were simple, not to say cheap. Scandinavian leaders appeared as though they were our Arab leaders in their modesty. Believe me! [email protected]
