News about the World Economic Forum (WEF)

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told CNBC that the attacks on ships in the Red Sea made the organization’s 2024 merchandise trade forecast “a little less optimistic.” ” he said.

Iranian-backed Houthi militias have been attacking ships in the region since November, causing many ships to change course.

Speaking at the World Trade Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. “There is,” he said.

In October, the WTO predicted trade growth would be 3.3% this year, higher than the 0.8% expected growth rate in 2023.

“The potential for the conflict to potentially spread further is also very concerning,” Okonjo-Iweala said. He added that downward revisions to global GDP forecasts are “hitting aggregate demand across the board” and are therefore also impacting trade.

Mr. Okonjo-Iweala said that despite the disruption in the Red Sea, the WTO still expects trade growth this year to be better than in 2023.

— Vicky McKeever

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Israelis want certainty about their future security.

“If you ask the average Israeli about their mental state right now, no one in their right mind would think about what the solution to a peace deal would be, because everyone wants to know. , can we promise real security?” The future? “He said this in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“All Israelis want to know that they will not be attacked in the same way from the north, south and east,” he said, referring to the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. “I have,” he added.

— Lucy Handley

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has warned that Israel is reining in threats in the Middle East that could otherwise threaten Europe and the United States.

“If there was no Israel, Europe would be next…and then America would be next,” he said, referring to Israel’s ongoing war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Mr. Herzog spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We are fighting a war for the whole universe, for the free world,” he added, referring to the threat from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been attacking Israel since the start of the civil war, and fighting wars against civilians. He cited solidarity as the reason. of the Gaza Strip.

He also acknowledged that Yemen’s Houthis pose a naval danger in the Red Sea and said Israel was “unraveling a system of great evil.”

— Luxandra Iordake

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for the release of 136 hostages held by Hamas.

Addressing delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Herzog spoke about the boy, Kfir Bibas, who turned one year old on Thursday, was kidnapped by Hamas.

“Here on this wonderful stage of the world, I call on the entire universe to free Kfir Vivas and all the hostages there,” he said, sitting next to a photo of the baby.

“Our world has shattered [the] 7^th [of] In October, we were celebrating a Jewish holiday…We woke up with a big shock,” Herzog said, describing last year’s Hamas attack on Israel.

— Lucy Handley

European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcović said the Commission needs to “adjust how it supports business in Europe” by taking measures such as smoothing the process of granting permits. said.

Question: How will Europe respond to competition from the US and China? — The United States has invested billions of dollars in climate change technology and infrastructure, and China’s BYD has become the world’s top electric vehicle (EV) maker. — Sefcovic said the European Commission was “ready to fight” for European companies.

“We want you to thrive in Europe, because we have a lot to offer. We just need to scale up faster and better. And of course , we must do our best to ensure its sustainability. is a trademark of the European economy and will have a future here in Europe as well,” he said at a conference in Davos, Switzerland. Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum.

European and national governments need to provide a “one-stop shop” to financially support companies, Sefcovic added.

— Lucy Handley

Belen Garijo, CEO of multinational science and technology company Merck KGaA, said innovation is the key to economic growth and prosperity, and at the moment “I think Europe is lagging behind.”

Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, discusses how elections around the world in 2024 could affect climate policy and what he thinks will help accelerate the energy transition. Talk about what you need to do.

Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said in an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he was “very optimistic” about the outlook for the UK economy.

“I think British consumers are in a very decent position…those pent-up savings are being eroded.On the other hand, it’s a variable rate mortgage market and there’s been a lot of mortgage adjustment. “Interest rates have been fixed for about three years, and interest rates have been rising for about three years,” he said.

Typical products offered to UK consumers are two-year and five-year mortgages.

He added: “Energy prices are stabilizing, which means the two factors that have hit household budgets are coming down. I would say we are very optimistic about the UK.”

— Lucy Handley

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) dominated public and private discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Accuracy is an important topic for technology leaders, with Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger telling CNBC, “How do you prove that your large-scale language model is actually correct? There are a lot of things wrong today. Fundamentally, we still want to make our knowledge workers more productive. But at the end of the day, you need knowledge workers to tell you if it’s true or not. ”

Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI, says the best way to improve accuracy is through experimentation and co-pilot testing to advance adoption.

“Until a human co-pilot can basically autopilot the AI, you can tell the AI ​​to be conservative for bigger bets,” Shih said.

Read the full text here.

— Lucy Handley

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe needed to be more active on the world stage.

“2024 will be a pivotal year for Europeans. Whatever happens in the United States, we have to prove that we can be more visible and that we can do more,” he said at the event, according to a translation. ” he said.

President Macron also expressed concern about how the outcome of the presidential election at the end of the year could affect existing tensions between the United States and China.

“The big risk for Europeans is that they end up with the wrong policies,” he said.

Read the full text here.

— Lucy Handley

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told CNBC that centrist parties need to articulate their positions more clearly on key issues.

“I think centre-right, centrist parties like my party need to be more successful.” — myself, my party — To explain that we are here for the economy, we are here for collective security,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He added that this means that “we need not only strong nation-states, but also strong multilateral institutions, and that more right-wing parties have been particularly successful in challenging the multilateral world order.”

Mark Rutte has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010, but Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party won a decisive victory in the November general election, and talks are underway to form a new coalition government. It is being

— Vicky McKeever