With the World Economic Forum held in Davos this week, Manara Global Senior Advisor Natasha Moor shares her perspective.
The world’s most important political and business elite descended on the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week. Coming together for the first time since the pandemic and later in the year than usual, the unique summit held on a Swiss mountainside in Davos, attracted the rich and powerful to talk about the things that matter to them and their countries.
Hailing from across politics, business, philanthropy and media, thousands of delegates came to listen to and mingle with some of the world’s wealthiest and most well-known people. The UAE sent a delegation made up of ministers, officials and business leaders to highlight the nation’s growth plans and visions through their Centennial Plan 2071. Over 50 leaders from across the world attended, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opening the summit.
From Prime Ministers to ministers to CEOs to philanthropists, they turned up to bang the drum for greater cooperation between governments, corporations, and investors on some of the globe’s most pressing issues.
Events like Davos offer a unique opportunity
Events like Davos offer a unique opportunity to have leaders all in the same place at the same time. Usually, their snow boots are at the ready to hit the slopes, but there won’t have been any skiing this year. Davos has been different in more ways than one.
The summit known as “History at a Turning Point” was held against the most turbulent backdrop in decades, with a whole host of challenges needing to be navigated. The Ukraine-Russia war dominated the agenda, and the wider impacts of the global pandemic and the economic repercussions continue to be felt severely. Chief Executive of WEF Klaus Schwab noted that this is the first summit in a world characterised by both the pandemic and war.
While it remains an important global platform to confront startling issues, there were some big A-listers missing this year. US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron chose to stay away from Davos faced with pressing issues back home. While a vital platform to facilitate important business, Davos described as the “billionaire’s playground” has been perceived as out of touch with reality. The opportunity to schmooze the world’s wealthy while the cost-of-living crises unfold at home may have made it difficult for some leaders to attend.
Global platforms can shape future agendas
But it isn’t just a case of turning up on the day to mingle and party with the elite, it gives government leaders an opportunity like no other to set out their ambitions and engage and open the door to collaborating with some of the most influential global leaders across every sector of society. Tireless work goes into a leader’s attendance at a major summit such as Davos. The leader, advisers and officials spend weeks and months bringing together the policies they want to pursue – whether free trade to investment to sustainability. They draft and rework the speech and comms products numerous times, and aside from the main event, officials will be working hard to get bilateral talks set up between foreign leaders on the fringes. It is a chance to pull a leader aside face to face and have an important conversation, whether to congratulate them or talk about a pressing matter of global importance.
While in years gone by, Prime Ministers and their speeches have topped the Davos agenda. This year’s forum will have been very different to those from before in a post-pandemic world, with attention firmly on Ukraine and the addresses made by President Zelensky, and those who haven’t been invited such as the Russian delegation.
Having attended similar summits with former Prime Minister Theresa May, these gatherings are some of the most exciting you can attend as an official. You fly in on the Prime Minister’s plane and park up next to the other leaders’ planes, you travel in the Prime Minister’s convoy at speed on your way to this major global event, you see all the world leaders in the same room and it offers the chance to work with delegations from around the world on incredibly important issues, and ones that can change the course of UK relations. It offers an opportunity like no other.
About Natasha Moor
Natasha Moor joined Manara Global in April after serving three and half years as Chief Press Officer to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and before that Theresa May in 10 Downing Street. With an extensive background with roles in the UK Government and Parliament, Natasha brings this experience to advise our clients in Dubai and beyond on how to set the media agenda and deliver a strategic communions programme designed to create lasting impact.