Don961: Davos 2020: the world’s attention is turning towards a meeting of the poles of the economy

2020-01-18

Yassin Iraq: Follow-up

With the start of the Davos Economic Forum starting later this week, attention is turning towards the annual meeting of the elite of economists and politicians around the world at a time when geopolitical tensions are escalating and features of economic crises are looming on the global economy.

The conference this year coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of its holding, as the forum dates back to 1971 by German businessman Klaus Young.

When the forum started its activities about half a century ago, politicians were not on the list of invitees, and their presence began in an official capacity since 1974 for the first time, until the forum became a forum that brings together the rich businessmen and leaders of major countries and politicians at the present time.

Some 3,000 people from 118 countries are attending the current version of Davos, with a prominent presence of US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as several other world leaders.

Goals inconsistent with the leaders ’directions

The current version of the Davos Forum focuses on a number of issues, most notably climate change and sustainable growth. US President Donald Trump may find himself in an embarrassing position on the issue of climate change, which Trump himself has declared on more than one occasion he is indifferent to, according to a report published in the American Times.

Trump did not attend the last version of Davos, citing the crisis of the closure of the US government, as the president abruptly canceled the attendance plan, which cost the US Treasury at the time about $ 3 million in the cost of car rent, hotel reservations for him and the accompanying delegation, according to a report published by the “Quartz” website. .

According to the forum’s official website, the current version of Davos will also discuss the importance of technological development in supporting global growth through what is termed “the Internet of Things.”

119 billionaires in the current Davos edition

119 current billionaires from the world’s wealthy are participating in the Davos conference, according to a report published by the American Bloomberg Agency, whose combined wealth amounts to about 500 billion dollars.

According to the report, the largest participation rate of the wealthy comes from the United States with 33 billionaires, followed by India with 19 billionaires, and Russia with seven people.

Participants in the forum this year include Bridge Water Associate founder Lily Dallio, Blackstone Group Chairman Steve Schwarzman and GB Morgan Chase Jimmy Damon.

Also featured in the current version are prominent figures such as George Source and CEO of Chinese Huawei, in addition to artistic figures shiny like the famous Bollywood star actress Dubika Padukone.

Frequent discontent

With the start of the Davos Economic Forum business every year, talk about the gap between the poor and the rich and the unfair distribution of wealth around the world is repeated in a world where half a billion people are in extreme poverty, according to World Poverty data, the platform that tracks poverty rates around the world.

Another report said that more than a decade after the global financial crisis, a significant number of wealthy people have multiplied their fortunes, such as David Rubinstein, Jimmy Damon and Stephen Schwarzman.

The conference often coincided with anti-forum demonstrations amid a state of discontent over the rich and politicians.

A report by the Oxfam Charitable Foundation, along with the previous version of the forum, showed that about 26 people own about half the wealth of the world’s population, with the gap widening between the rich and the poor.

The organization cited the wealth of, for example, Jeff Bezos, CEO of the American company Amazon, and said in a report on its website that the health budget in a country like Ethiopia is equivalent to only about 1% of his wealth.

Davos … fun is there too

Away from the heated economic debates, the Davos days witness night parties with the participation of the world’s richest music, sponsored by major companies that have membership in the forum.

According to the official website of the forum, the cost of membership ranges between 60-600 thousand dollars, while participation fees for non-members amount to about 28 thousand dollars per person.

Participants in the forum have membership cards of different colors, based on the color of each of them, allowing the participant to move from one region to another, according to the color of the card he holds.

The forum provides free golf carts for travel, according to a BBC report.   link

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Samson:  Official: China will increase imports from America according to “market principles”

19th January 2020
China will negotiate with American companies and increase imports of American goods and products according to market principles, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission of China said at a press conference on Sunday.

The United States has high-quality products in the sectors of energy, manufactured goods, agriculture, health care and financial services, said Meng Wei, spokeswoman for the committee. She added that China would increase its purchases of American goods and services by 200 billion dollars over two years in exchange for the United States reducing part of the customs duties under a preliminary trade agreement between the two largest economies in the world.

Chinese Vice Prime Minister Liu He, who signed the trade agreement with US President Donald Trump last week, said the agreement would not affect “third party interests”, apparently referring to deals with other agricultural commodity suppliers.

The television quoted Liu as telling reporters that companies would import American agricultural products as dictated by consumer demand, supply and demand in the market.  LINK