The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is under the impression of the corona pandemic.
In the afternoon, Chancellor Angela Merkel will give her speech.
The annual
World Economic Forum
* will not
take place
in the Swiss ski resort of
Davos
this year due to the corona pandemic
.
Instead, a virtual
“Davos Agenda Week” has been
scheduled, at which prominent representatives from politics and business will speak.
Among them is the German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
*, whose speech is announced for Tuesday at 1 p.m.
This
news ticker is
constantly updated.
Davos - Unlike usual,
this year
the annual
World Economic Forum is
not
taking place
in the Swiss ski resort of
Davos
*, but rather virtually.
This time, the main focus will be on coping with the
corona pandemic
* and
climate change
*.
Chinese President
Xi Jinping
* gave his speech
on Monday,
and Chancellor
Angela Merkel
*
will also
speak at the forum
during the “Davos Agenda Week”
.
The US is represented by former Secretary of State
John Kerry
.
On Monday, UN Secretary General
António Guterres called
for a hurry to distribute
corona vaccines
*
worldwide
.
"If the industrialized countries believe that they are safe, if they vaccinate their own people and neglect developing countries, they are wrong,"
Guterres
said
in a video speech on Monday.
“There is now a clear, real danger of
mutations
* that will make the virus more transmissible or deadly or more resistant to existing vaccines *.
We have to act quickly. "
World Economic Forum Davos: Fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in focus
The global production capacities of the means to contain the
Covid-19 pandemic
would have to be massively expanded and licenses made available, Guterres continued.
In addition, it must be ensured that the
vaccines
are affordable in poorer parts of the world.
"Vaccines must be seen as global public goods," said the UN chief and campaigned for better funding for the international corona vaccination
initiative Covax
*.
Renowned US corona expert
Anthony Fauci
* reported on the difficult
corona situation
in his country: "It is extremely problematic to deal with a public health crisis when the country is in the middle of a split," he said Head of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases.
"When public health issues are politically charged - when wearing a mask * is a political statement - then you can't imagine how damaging that is to a public health message."
“Davos Agenda Week”: President Xi Jinping criticizes sanctions against China
China's head of state and party leader
Xi Jinping
spoke out in favor of more international cooperation and free world trade against the background of growing tensions between his country and the USA or Europe.
The world's problems could not be solved by any country alone, said
Xi Jinping
on Monday in a video speech at the opening of the virtual annual meeting.
Forming small alliances will only divide the world further.
Video: China's President Xi Jinping warns of "new cold war"
Without going into the multitude of newly imposed
US
sanctions
against China, Xi Jinping warned more generally against threatening other countries or imposing sanctions, decoupling the economies or disrupting supply chains.
Foreign trade policy should not be at the expense of other countries either.
Regardless of the criticism of persistent market barriers in China,
Xi Jinping reassured
that China wants to open up further.
It was the second appearance of the Chinese President at the annual meeting after 2017.
At that time,
after the inauguration of
Donald Trump
*
,
Xi Jinping
used the meeting to present himself as a pioneer of free world trade, in contrast to the then new US president and his protectionism.
World Economic Forum Davos: Speeches by Merkel, Macron and von der Leyen announced
In a panel
discussion
,
Federal Minister of Economics
Peter Altmaier assumed
that the
US position
on open markets and multilateralism had changed.
This was something very controversial in the debates with the USA for four years.
With regard to the new US administration under
Joe Biden
*, the CDU * politician said: "Now we should give them a chance not only to develop their ideas, but also to implement them."
Until Friday, representatives from politics, business and society will discuss current challenges in online rounds at the Economic Forum. Speeches by ECB boss
Christine Lagarde
, Federal Minister of Economics
Peter Altmaier
and VW boss
Herbert Diess have been
announced
on the subject of economics
. EU Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen
*, French President
Emmanuel Macron
* and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
* will also speak at the forum. The World Economic Forum also wants to host an actual meeting this year: At the end of May, business leaders, top politicians and representatives of society are to come
together
in
Singapore
. (dpa / fmü)
* Merkur.de and tz.de are part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.