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Davos 2019 Day 2: Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel address forum

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Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel addressing the World Economic Forum attendees. (Screenshot/WEF)
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rince William, Duke of Cambridge and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern join a panel discussing mental health. (Screenshot/WEF)
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Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, revealed further details of a Saudi investment deal at the Davos forum. (WEF)
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The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. (WEF)
Updated 25 January 2019
Arab News
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Davos 2019 Day 2: Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel address forum

  • The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland
  • Highlights include addresses by Japanese PM and German chancellor
Updated 25 January 2019
Arab News

DAVOS: The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. Follow Arab News' live coverage below...

17:45 - If you want an alternative view of the comings and goings at Davos, you couldn't do much better than our reporter Frank Kane's 'Davos Diary' for a more tongue-in-cheek look at the World Economic Forum...

Davos Diary: From chalets to snow boots, how to master the WEF logistics

Davos Diary: An evening in the life of WEF, from Brexit to biodiversity

Davos Diary: Central Lounge — the networking hub of the universe

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17:10 - Missed the address by German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier? Don't worry, you can read/watch everything she had to say by clicking here...

16:45 - Earlier on Wednesday, Giuseppe Conte dismissed fears Italy is headed for a recession, insisting that the country's economic growth could climb as much as 1.5 percent and said there was no need for a budget adjustment to meet targets. He was speaking to Bloomberg on the sidelines of Davos.

16:30 - Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is speaking now on stage. Follow live below:

15:30 - A fascinating conversation on mental health and the discussions now happening around the world and what is being done to help those suffering...

15:10 - Prince William says he found that one thing linked all the different charitable causes he had worked on - mental health. Speaks about how breaking down barriers and removing the stigma was key to what he wanted to achieve...

15:00 - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern join a panel discussing mental health - one in four people will experience mental illness in their lives, costing the global economy an estimated $6 trillion by 2030. What can the global community do to promote mental health across all facets of society? Find out by watching the panel live below:

14:30 - Wang Qishan has proven to be a bit spiky with some of his answers to Klaus Schwab's questioning during this panel, and has made some very odd references. He even manages a sly dig at European economies and corruption throughout history via Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities - slightly awkward, if compelling, viewing...

14:15 - We now have a special address by Wang Qishan, the Vice-President of China. Watch his address and comments below:

13:55 - Merkel departs the stage, staying tight-lipped about her future after politics and when told she is welcome back at Davos anytime, she quips: "Well, you have me today - be grateful for what you have." Fiesty...

13:30 - Angela Merkel has defended global institutions set up in the aftermath of World War II, saying they have made the world a better place - and says the current global system will only be maintained if political compromises are made. She also says confidence in global financial systems has been shaken and must be restored.

"For a long time emerging countries like China and India influenced the world economy in a very strong way and when an existing system takes too long to react the consequences are that others (countries) make themselves noticeable through new institutions." 

13:15 - Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel takes to the stage, watch her special address below...

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13:05: Meanwhile, now time for some Saudi Arabia-focused Davos news - according to Kirill Dmitriev, boss of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s pledged $10 billion investment in Russia has been deployed, he said on Wednesday. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2015 signed an agreement to invest up to $10 billion in Russia through a partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

READ MORE: Davos 2019: Saudi investment in Russia ‘hits $2.5bn’

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12:50 - Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed is discussing the rapid transformation the country has gone through in such a short space of time, something the panel host says leaders in Europe could learn from. Talking about the wider, regional influence Ethiopa could have, he quotes: "If you want to go first, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

12:30 - Change of pace now, as we go over to a conversation with newly appointed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is talking about the country's rapid pace of reform and what will be needed to realize Ethiopia's potential. Watch live below:

12:15 - Jack Ma has just spoken about the potential of Africa - he says he can sense a fear of future in Europe, but not so in Africa (or China) where there is a great optimism for the future. He says Africa, and developing countries, need the 'Four Es' in order to suceed - "entrepreneurs, education, e-frastructure (internet access) and e-government." 

"Africans want change, the continent has many smart young people. Europeans always wants to keep yesterday. When you worry about the future, you will never be an entrepreneur."

12:00 - Alibaba founder Jack Ma is speaking to young people, technology experts and Global Shapers - the first question he is posed regards whether or not he ever had doubts whether his company would be a success. He says he definitely had fears and doubts, but he says he was completely "transparent" about that with his team and that helped build trust with the group that would make it a success. Watch it live here:

11:45 - As pretty as Davos looks in the previous update, it appears the reality is much like anywhere else in the world - traffic on the morning commute, as our reporter Frank Kane discovered...

11:30 - So much of the action in Davos happens indoors, and we rarely see outside the conference center - but what is the Swiss resort actually like? We've assembled a small collection of images for you, so you can see. Rather pretty, really...(All images: AFP)

11:15 - So what do we have coming up for you today? Shortly, Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, will be making a special address. Then we will have German Chancellor Angela Merkel on stage. She will be talking about growing uncertainty in Europe over the impending Brexit after British lawmakers last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union. Will Britain crash out of the bloc without a deal or will it end up extending its date of departurefrom the current March 29?

The trade conflict between the US and China will also be in focus when China's vice president, Wang Qishan, addresses the conference later. On Tuesday, Mike Pompeo said he was "optimistic" that there will be a "good outcome" in upcoming trade discussions with China in Washington. A high-level Chinese delegation is due to arrive in the US capital on Jan. 30 as the two sides seek to strike an accord to end their trade conflict.

READ MORE: Mideast CEOs turn gloomy on global economy, PwC study finds

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10:35 - Shinzo Abe has delivered an engaging and interesting address (not something you can say about everyone at the forum...) and this line about tackling Climate Change being a potentially profitable, rather than costly, exercise stood out...

10:20 - Shinzo Abe's address is all about his policies that have helped raise wages in Japan, put two million women into work and helping the notoriously elderly population transition into an evolving workforce. The fact he is addressing Davos in English is also particularly impressive - a sign of his hopes to open up Japan to the world a bit more?

10:15 - Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe begins his address to the forum...

10:00 - Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and a winner at this year's WEF Crystal Awards, was speaking this morning. The acclaimed director spoke about her dedication to breaking boundaries and shaping new stories, at a panel entitled “An Insight, An Idea with Haifaa Al-Mansour.”

You can watch a recap of her discussion here

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09:45 - Another bit of news from the first day was the meeting between Dubai's crown prince Sheikh Hamdan and WEF founder Klaus Schwab, you can read about their meeting here...

09:30 - More senior world leaders will take to the stage today, with the Japanese prime minister, the German chancellor and the prime minister of Ethiopia all on the agenda. Stay tuned to keep track of all Wednesday's action.

One of the highlights of the first day was the story and impassioned plea of refugee Mohammed Hassan Mohamud - a Somalian displaced person currently in a camp in Kenya.

Topics: Davos 2019 Davos Switzerland World Economic Forum (WEF) WEF WEF19

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Key debt ratio resumes rise as global debt burden hits record $315 trillion, IIF says

Updated 07 May 2024
Reuters
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Key debt ratio resumes rise as global debt burden hits record $315 trillion, IIF says

  • The turnaround comes as dollar value of global debt surged by some $1.3 trillion quarter-on-quarter
  • Pakistan is set to spend above 50 percent of its revenue on interest and Egypt more than 60 percent
Updated 07 May 2024
Reuters

NEW YORK: A key measure of world indebtedness has resumed its climb as global debt hit a record high of $315 trillion in the first quarter of the year, fueled by borrowing in emerging markets, the United States and Japan, a study showed.

The global debt-to-output ratio — a measure describing the ability of a borrower to pay back debt — rose to hit 333 percent after three consecutive quarters of decline, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said on Tuesday in its quarterly Global Debt Monitor report.

The turnaround comes as the dollar value of global debt surged by some $1.3 trillion quarter-on-quarter.

Debt in emerging markets grew to a record of more than $105 trillion — having more than doubled over the past decade according to IIF data.

The largest contributors to the increase among emerging economies were China, India and Mexico. South Korea, Thailand, and Brazil posted the largest dollar value declines in overall debt among the subgroup, the data showed.

“Government budget deficits are still higher than pre- pandemic levels and are projected to contribute around $5.3 trillion to global debt accumulation this year,” the IIF said in a statement. “Rising trade friction and geopolitical tensions also present significant potential headwinds for debt markets.”

Interest rates were expected to have started declining in the United States by now but sticky inflation has seen the Federal Reserve stand its ground.

This has meant higher borrowing costs across the globe and, for many emerging markets, weakened currencies that further exacerbate the cost of servicing debt and “could once again bring government debt strains to the fore,” the IIF said.

Egypt and Pakistan are seen as the emerging economies where the interest expense on government debt will be highest through 2026, with Pakistan set to spend above 50 percent of revenue on interest and Egypt more than 60 percent.

Among developed economies, the United States and Japan saw debt rise the quickest, adding 17 percentage points and 4 percentage points respectively.

Japan is expected to continue to spend on average under 2 percent of government revenue in debt servicing through 2026, according to the IIF. In the US, the figure is expected to rise above 10 percent from the current 8 percent and brush against 12 percent in the same period.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund warned the US level of spending is “of particular concern” and “out of line with long-term fiscal sustainability.”

Topics: Institute of International Finance

UK prime minister summons university leaders over pro-Palestinian protests

Pro-Palestinian supporters set up a camp on the campus at Oxford University, in Oxford, eastern England on May 7, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 07 May 2024
Arab News
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UK prime minister summons university leaders over pro-Palestinian protests

  • Meeting to discuss antisemitism, ensuring Jewish students are safe
Updated 07 May 2024
Arab News

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to summon the leaders of universities following pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place at campuses across the country.

The meeting will take place this week to discuss antisemitism on campuses and ensuring Jewish students are safe, Sunak told Britain’s Cabinet on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the prime minister said Sunak expected university leaders to take “robust action” in dealing with the protests, The Evening Standard reported.

“Our university campuses should be places of rigorous debate, but they should also be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect,” the spokesman said.

The “right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence,” he added.

The summons comes after British students set up pro-Palestinian protest encampments at Oxford and Cambridge campuses on Monday, in a show of solidarity with their American peers.

Cambridge University said its priority was the “safety of all staff and students” and that it was committed to freedom of speech.

“We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity,” a spokesperson said.

Pro-Palestinian protests have been taking place at US universities since April 17 and the protests have spread to Europe.

Police broke up student demonstrations in the Netherlands, Germany, and France on Tuesday as Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza.

Topics: War on Gaza UK British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

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2,000 religious leaders attend Muslim World League conference in Kuala Lumpur

Updated 07 May 2024
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2,000 religious leaders attend Muslim World League conference in Kuala Lumpur

  • MWL co-organized international gathering with the Malaysian government
  • Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivers speech during the conference
Updated 07 May 2024
Mohammed Rasooldeen

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 2,000 religious leaders and scholars from 57 countries gathered in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday for a conference organized by the Muslim World League to discuss the role of religion in facilitating dialogue and peace initiatives.

The MWL, an international non-governmental Islamic organization founded in Saudi Arabia in 1962, organized the 2024 International Conference of Religious Leaders with Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development.

The conference was inaugurated by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and MWL Secretary-General Sheikh Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa.

“This religious conference will be an annual feature in Malaysia since it has proved successful in building an understanding and affinity among religions in the world, as well as in Malaysia,” Anwar said during his speech.

“In a conference like this, we can observe the things that need to be done and need to be improved among Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus. We want to listen to your advice, criticisms and suggestions.”

While about two-thirds of Malaysia’s more than 33 million population are Muslims, there are also large Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian minorities in the country.

“Religious leaders should take an active, effective and courageous role in promoting peace and justice. It is the duty of religious leaders to ensure that governance is guided by strong moral and ethical values,” Anwar said.

Al-Issa said the conference seeks to have a tangible impact.

“This international conference was attended by international, religious, political, intellectual, academic and media leaders. It is considered the first nucleus of a major breakthrough through a number of initiatives and programs around the world, aiming to enhance friendship and cooperation between nations and peoples,” he said.

“Our world is most in need of true solidarity, solidarity with a tangible impact, and is most in need of awareness of the threats threatening its global peace and the harmony of its diverse national communities in their religions and races.”

Topics: Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim Muslim World League (MWL)

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US repatriates two dozen Westerners from Syria Daesh camp

Updated 07 May 2024
AFP
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US repatriates two dozen Westerners from Syria Daesh camp

  • In a complex operation involving US agencies, Kuwait and pro-US Kurdish fighters, the United States repatriated 11 US citizens
  • The US also facilitated the repatriation of six Canadian citizens, four Dutch citizens, and one Finnish citizen
Updated 07 May 2024
AFP

WASHINGTON: The United States announced Tuesday it had brought back two dozen Western citizens, half of them Americans, from a camp for Daesh prisoners in Syria, its largest-ever repatriation as thousands languish.
In a complex operation involving US agencies, Kuwait and pro-US Kurdish fighters, the United States repatriated 11 US citizens, including five minors, as well as a nine-year-old non-US sibling of an American, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The United States in the same operation facilitated the repatriation of six Canadian citizens, four Dutch citizens, and one Finnish citizen, among them eight children, he said.
“This is the largest single repatriation of US citizens from northeast Syria to date,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis in the displaced persons camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and, where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” he said.
The United States has long pushed European governments to bring back nationals who went to fight for the Daesh group — or their children.
Most European countries have done so but slowly and despite initial reservations, especially in countries with a history of jihadist attacks at home such as France and Britain.
Blinken did not identify the people who were repatriated.
The New York Times, quoting unidentified sources, said they included an American woman, whose Turkish husband apparently took the family to Daesh territory and was later killed, and their nine children.
The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported last week that a man who joined Daesh but then became a valuable informant was seeking the repatriation of two sons, one apparently the non-US citizen, to be raised by their grandparents in Minnesota.
The repatriations remain controversial in the United States as well, with the administration of former president Donald Trump in one prominent case insisting that a young woman seeking to return was not legitimately a US citizen.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) helped US forces crush the Daesh group.
Five years after the extremists were ousted from their last territory, the SDF still holds more than 56,000 detainees with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group.
Kurdish authorities have been asking foreign governments to repatriate their nationals but Western governments have responded slowly for fear of domestic backlash.

Topics: Daesh United States of America (USA) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

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Putin starts new six-year term with challenge to the West

Updated 07 May 2024
Reuters
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Putin starts new six-year term with challenge to the West

  • Putin is sworn in for fifth term
  • US and many EU states stay away
  • Putin says he’s not ending dialogue with West
Updated 07 May 2024
Reuters

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up the West to choose between confrontation and cooperation as he was sworn in for a new six-year term on Tuesday at a Kremlin ceremony that was boycotted by the United States and many of its allies.
More than two years into the war in Ukraine, Putin said he wanted to “bow” before Russia’s soldiers there and declared in his inauguration speech that his landslide re-election in March was proof the country was united and on the right track.
“You, citizens of Russia, have confirmed the correctness of the country’s course. This is of great importance right now, when we are faced with serious challenges,” he told dignitaries in a gilded Kremlin hall where a trumpet fanfare sounded to greet his arrival.
“I see in this a deep understanding of our common historical goals, a determination to adamantly defend our choice, our values, freedom and the national interests of Russia.”
At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape. Leading opposition figures are in prison or exile, and his best known critic, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony in February.
Yulia Navalnaya, the late dissident’s wife, urged supporters in a video on Tuesday to keep up the struggle against Putin. “With each of his terms, everything only gets worse, and its’ frightening to imagine what else will happen while Putin remains in power,” she said.
On the international stage, Putin is locked in a confrontation with Western countries he accuses of using Ukraine as a vehicle to try to defeat and dismember Russia.
Putin told Russia’s political elite after being sworn in that he was not rejecting dialogue with the West, including on nuclear weapons.
“The choice is theirs: do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, incessant pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace?” he said.
With Russia’s troops advancing gradually in eastern Ukraine, the top US intelligence official said last week that Putin appeared to see domestic and international developments trending in his favor and the conflict was unlikely to end anytime soon.
It remains unclear how far Putin will seek to press the war and on what terms he might discuss ending it — decisions that will depend in part on whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November. Ukraine says peace can only come with a full withdrawal of Russia’s troops, who control nearly 20 percent of its territory.
Western absentees
Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, will surpass Soviet leader Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving ruler since 18th century Empress Catherine the Great if he completes a new six-year term. He would then be eligible to seek re-election again.
He won victory by a record margin in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds. The opposition called it a sham.
The United States, which said it did not consider his re-election free and fair, stayed away from Tuesday’s ceremony.
Britain, Canada and most EU nations also decided to boycott the swearing-in, but France said it would send its ambassador.
Ukraine said the event sought to create “the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship.”
Sergei Chemezov, a Putin ally, told Reuters before the ceremony, that Putin brought stability, something which even his critics should welcome.
“For Russia, this is the continuation of our path, this is stability – you can ask any citizen on the street,” he said.
Nuclear tensions
Russia’s relations with the United States and its allies are at their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.
The West has provided Ukraine with artillery, tanks and long-range missiles, but NATO troops have not joined the conflict directly, something that both Putin and Biden have warned could lead to World War Three.
Underscoring the rise in nuclear tensions, Russia said on Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise, after what it said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
One of the decisions awaiting Putin in his new term will be whether to seek to renew or replace the last remaining treaty that limits Russian and US strategic nuclear warheads. The New START agreement is due to expire in 2026.
In line with the constitution, the government resigned at the start of the new presidential term. Putin ordered it to remain in office while he appoints a new one which is expected to include many of the same faces.

Topics: Russia President Vladimir Putin

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