Leaders from across the world made a call for stakeholder responsibility to make 2020s a 'decade of delivery' as the 50th WEF annual meeting came to an end on Friday after five days of hectic discussions.
Several leaders also opined that transformative investments in sustainable solutions and the green economy will help underwrite the next phase of global growth and prosperity.
It was also felt there is also a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity to help mobilise investment towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in emerging economies.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) also said the annual meeting, which aimed to bring all stakeholders together to shape a cohesive and sustainable world, was climate-neutral for the fourth consecutive year, with a host of new initiatives to boost resource efficiency and further reduce emissions.
WEF President Borge Brende said, "Our 50th Annual Meeting has been truly remarkable, due to the real progress that we created on a spectrum of issues where public-private collaboration is crucial. We laid the basis for a decade of delivery."
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told participants that we are in a better place in January 2020 than we were in October 2019, when it had announced its World Economic Outlook.
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There are several drivers for this positive momentum -- trade tensions are receding; central banks have loosened monetary policy; and global industrial production is bottoming out, she said.
The IMF's economic forecast is for 3.3 per cent global growth this year and 3.4 per cent next year.
This level of growth was characterised as "sluggish", and governments were called on to enact structural reforms and boost spending, she added.
In 2019, 29 central banks globally reduced rates 71 times and it is now time to pass the baton on to fiscal policy. "We need to go beyond monetary stimulus fiscal policy needs to become more aggressive," Georgieva added.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: "The US economy continues to be the bright spot in the world."
The economic outlook for 2020 is very robust, he said, adding that inflation remains muted, incomes are rising and unemployment is near historic lows.
Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, said: "We expect Japan's economy to grow by 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent this year."
Nevertheless, inflation in Japan is stubbornly low. Continued accommodative monetary policy will be required for some time to achieve the 2 per cent inflation objective, he added.
Climate risk is quite real for Japan, he said. In the fourth quarter of last year, the Japanese economy experienced negative growth largely because of two large typhoons. These types of natural disasters are intensifying and Japan stands ready to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global climate change.
Germany has embarked on an expansionary fiscal policy programme, said Olaf Scholz, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance of Germany. Taxes have been reduced by about USD 25 billion a year, investment in infrastructure is at record levels and R&D spending is targeted to reach 3.5 per cent of GDP.
"Germany's economy remains strong and we expect these investment measures to have a material impact on demand," he added.
However, we must act urgently on sustainability issues, he said. Europe will continue to lead on climate change, with a target to be carbon neutral by 2050 backed by investments in the green economy and renewable energy.
In a letter sent to participants in advance of the annual meeting, Klaus Schwab, the Forum's Founder and Executive Chairman, and the heads of Bank of America and Royal DSM had asked all members and partners to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier.
The Reskilling Revolution was launched to provide better education, skills and jobs to 1 billion people by 2030, with the initial backing of the governments of Bahrain, Brazil, Denmark, France, India, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the US as well as business partners, including PwC, Salesforce, Infosys and LinkedIn.
The International Business Council, incorporating 140 of the world's largest companies, agreed to support efforts to develop a core set of common metrics and disclosures that could be used to measure private sector progress against key environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
A strategic partnership was signed between the WEF and the OECD to accelerate progress towards inclusive and sustainable growth.
Some 42 organisations, including businesses from mining and automotive segments, with a combined revenue of USD 1 trillion agreed on 10 guiding principles for a sustainable battery value chain, enabled by a traceability platform called Battery Passport.
Ministers at Davos announced negotiations between 99 economies on a new international agreement on investment facilitation at the WTO.
As the US and France agreed on a detente on digital tax during the Annual Meeting, the Forum received a mandate from multistakeholder partners to further build multistakeholder understanding of international tax reforms.
1t.org, a new multistakeholder initiative aimed at supporting efforts to grow, conserve and restore 1 trillion trees by the end of the decade was announced.
The Forum partnered with a community of 40 central banks, international organizations and researchers to create a framework to help central banks evaluate, design and potentially deploy Central Bank Digital Currency.
The WEF, in collaboration with 100 stakeholders, produced the Empowering AI Toolkit to help board members better understand the implications of deploying artificial intelligence.
A group of private-sector leaders from cybersecurity companies and services providers along with law enforcement agencies, Interpol and Europol, agreed to work with the WEF to foster a global alliance against cybercrime.
A group of telecommunications stakeholders, including BT and Singtel, endorsed new principles combating high-volume cyberattacks that could protect up to 1 billion consumers in 180 countries.
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