The five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting concluded Sunday amid great concern over the growth prospects for the global economy in the coming year and calls for more attention to development issues.
This year's Davos summit was overshadowed by mounting concerns over the U.S. economic outlook in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis, with some economists warning that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), predicted a serious slowdown in the U.S. economy.
"Whatever the answer is on a recession, what is clear is there will be a serious slowdown" in the United States, he told a panel discussion on the economic outlook this year.
The chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy said a U.S. recession risk was obvious.
He also cautioned on the risk of trade protectionism in the United States, saying that "protectionist risks are higher if there was to be a recession."
However, the U.S. government has a different view on the issue.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. economy will remain a leading engine of global economic growth despite concerns about a possible U.S. recession this year.
"The U.S. economy is resilient, its structure is sound, and its long-term economic fundamentals are healthy," Rice told a plenary session of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda acknowledged Saturday that the risk of the global economy taking a downward turn is increasing against the backdrop of the subprime mortgage loan crisis in the United States and the surge of oil prices to record levels, among other issues.
But he said there was no need to be too pessimistic, but countries need urgent coordination on the matter.
Development issues were also high on the agenda of the annual meeting, with calls for swift action on climate change and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The year 2008 is the halfway point in the 15-year implementation period for the MDGs. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday urged action on the MDGs with news ideas and approaches in 2008.
"This is the year to act (on MDGs). All of us together," he told a session dedicated to the MDGs.
At the UN General Assembly in September this year, the world body will host a high-level meeting on MDGs, with "a special emphasis on Africa," Ban announced.
The efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions got a strong boost from Japanese prime minister Saturday who put forward a "Cool Earth Promotion Program," a follow-up initiative of last year's "Cool earth 50" proposal, which calls for a halving of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The "Cool Earth Promotion Program" will be implemented in three parts: the post-Kyoto framework, international environmental cooperation and innovation, Fukuda said Saturday.
He also announced that Japan would establish a new financial mechanism, called the Cool Earth Partnership, with a scale of 10 billion U.S. dollars, through which Japan will actively cooperate with developing nations' efforts to reduce emissions.
Fukuda said climate change will be "a top priority" of the G8 summit. "There is no time to lose in addressing climate change," he said.
On the political front, Israeli and Palestinian leaders renewed their commitments to peace.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said the next 10 months are crucial for the peace talks, adding that the hopes of a truce are "greater today."
The two nations hope to finalize the peace talks before the U.S. presidential elections in November this year.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promised his country would hold "free, fair, transparent and peaceful" parliamentary elections slated for Feb. 18, which will be held under the shadow of the recent assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose country suffers from routine terror attacks by al-Qaida and Taliban remnants, has called for a "focused, determined, and sustained global partnership" in the fight against terrorism.
The five-day WEF annual meeting began in this Swiss ski resort Wednesday under the principal theme of "the Power of Collaborative Innovation."
The event drew 2,500 of the world's political and business elite, including 27 heads of state or government, and more than 110 ministers.
Source:Xinhua
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