What was discussed at the Davos Forum on Wednesday
2023.01.18 15:48
What was discussed at the Davos Forum on Wednesday
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged business leaders to adhere to the principles outlined by an expert group in order to make credible net-zero pledges or risk greenwashing. This brought the topic of climate change to the forefront.
The guidelines were released in November by the International Organization for Standardization, a standard-setting organization, and the United Nations to serve as a reference and assist organizations in developing solid plans that steer clear of slogans, hype, and obfuscation.
Climate change will continue to be a major topic because activist Greta Thunberg is scheduled to arrive in Davos on Thursday and meet with executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol.
Ukraine was the other topic of discussion on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to WEF delegates via video link and said that Western supplies of tanks and air defense units should arrive more quickly than Russia could carry out its own attacks.
Before Friday’s meeting of Western allies at Germany’s Ramstein air base, Zelenskiy spoke about whether Berlin will allow its Leopard battle tanks to be delivered to Kyiv to assist in driving out Russian forces.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath hailed it as a positive sign after China’s Vice-Premier Liu He declared his country open to the world on Tuesday, after three years of pandemic isolation.
According to Gopinath, the removal of the majority of COVID-19 restrictions could lead to a sharp recovery in economic growth in China beginning in the second quarter.
“Looking at the infection trends, and if those persist, we could see a very quick recovery starting from after the first quarter of this year,” she said of the current spike in infections that is being referred to as an “exit wave” associated with the opening of the economy.
Additionally, Moderna (NASDAQ:) focused on the coronavirus. Stephane Bancel, the company’s chief executive, stated that the American company was actively discussing supplying China with COVID-19 vaccines and that talks with Beijing also included factories and other products, such as cancer treatments.
Sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here to receive daily updates about Davos in your inbox.
