The five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland ended on Friday. While the global scenario is clouded by geopolitical conflicts, protectionism, rising debt and economic slowdown, India has presented a ‘ray of hope’ to the world.
India’s strengths: investment and development
The ‘Indian Development Story’ resonated strongly in the conference. 10 states of India put forth their pitch to attract investment and announced investment agreements worth crores of rupees. Outlook Foreign leaders and chief economists acknowledged that global economic conditions may weaken this year, but India will remain the strongest growth center in South Asia. However, hushed questions were also raised on these huge investment figures.
Trump’s return and promise of ‘good deal’
US President Donald Trump was at the center of discussion at the conference. In his typical style he took aim at opponents, but also hinted at progress on Ukraine and Gaza peace plans. He met Ukrainian President Zelensky and sent a message to Russian President Putin calling for an end to the war.
Trump’s stance on India also appeared soft. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his “friend”, Trump assured of a good deal on the US-India trade agreement soon. Several other European leaders also mentioned trade agreements with India.
AI tsunami and falling trust
‘Lack of trust’ and the risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) were major concerns at the conference. Anthropic’s CEO warned that in the next few years we will be challenged to control systems that will be smarter than humans. At the same time, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva termed AI as a tsunami hitting the labor market, for which the world is not yet ready. At the same time, WEF President Borge Brende said in the concluding session that this is ‘a moment of uncertainty, but not a time to retreat, but to connect.’ The World Economic Forum has announced to organize ‘Global Collaboration and Growth Meeting’ in Saudi Arabia in April.
