There should be no room for politics at Davos summit
Staring at globalisation 4.0, the world is gearing up to gather at Davos to build the future in a constructive and collaborative way. This is a time when globalisation itself is being redefined simultaneously by four major transformations. Global economic leadership is no longer dominated by multilateralism but characterised by ‘plurilateralism’. The balance of global power has shifted from unipolar to multipolar.
Ecological challenges, including but not limited to, climate change, are threatening socio-economic development. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is introducing technologies at a speed and scale unparalleled in history. Shaping the global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of 2019 will take place in a context of unprecedented uncertainty, fragility and controversy. In a world preoccupied by crisis management at a moment of transformative change, one has to use the spirit of Davos to build the modern world.
It will depend on governance at the corporate, government and international levels that adapts sufficiently to this new economic, political, environmental and social context. The world order changes only when the leaders shun their outdated approach and underpreparedness. The magnitude of change the world faces is different and unprecedented now. India too is on the throes. Tinkering with our existing processes and institutions will not be enough. We need to redesign them so that we can capitalise on the abundance of new opportunities that await us, while also avoiding the kinds of disruptions that we are witnessing today as the founder executive chairman of the World Economic Forum rightly pointed out.
India needs to attend the summit, but this country needs to send more delegates from the States. Its Chief Ministers must be encouraged to attend the meet with large delegations to understand the change the world is facing and undergoing. This is a time for joint effort. More so, in case of India where a multi-party democracy exists. Different political parties are ruling different States and the Centre. Not all are uniform in their opinions and perspectives of development.
Each is striving to create his or her own model of development. There should be no room for politics here in deciding who and how many should go. It is unfortunate that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, is denied both time and numbers in interacting with the delegations in Davos. The spread of challenge is too much at the Davos meet. A small delegation alone is not sufficient to interact with the economists and industrialists. The very purpose of attending such meets will be defeated. Narendra Modi should understand that Davos meet is all about inclusiveness.
The pettiness of our Prime Minister and the meanness of his governance is appalling. Asking Naidu, a visionary leader who looks far ahead of several others in the country, to cut his tour programme and also the size of the delegation is just simple and plain disgusting. Last year, the Prime Minister delivered a keynote address at the plenary session of the WEF ‘looking forward to sharing my vision for India's future engagement with the international community’. Is this the vision he has for AP and the country?