DAVOS, SWITZERLAND (AP) – Ukraine’s First Lady gave a rare international address as the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in the snowy Swiss town of Davos got into full swing yesterday, part of a push by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government to acquire more foreign weapons to defend against Russia’s invasion.
Security teams fanned out and snowplows cleared streets as Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska and hundreds of government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists from around the world descended on the town billed as Europe’s highest for the traditional winter gathering in Davos.
The COVID-19 pandemic torpedoed the snow-covered event each of the last two years, but a springtime iteration was held eight months ago.
Davos attendees are faced with global strife including Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, and jolted food and fuel markets worldwide, epitomising a feeling of frustration about how conflict and bloodshed are still befuddling modern society.
Adding to the gloom are an economic slowdown and a warming world, with the weeklong talkfest of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritising such problems but never making clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forum’s stated ambition of “improving the state of the world”.
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. PHOTO: AP
In a reminder of the fragility of the planet amid climate change, a giant illuminated wall featuring colourful, AI-conceived art derived from real images of coral reefs was one of the whiz-bang innovations welcoming attendees, showing how technology can immortalise images of natural beauty that might vanish one day.
Dozens of sessions yesterday took up issues as diverse as gender parity, the return of manufacturing, the green transition, efforts to end tuberculosis and the intersection of food, water and energy, featuring actor Idris Elba. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He also spoke.
With a war on the same continent, on many concerned minds in Davos was the devastation from a Russian missile strike that hit an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least 40 people in one of the deadliest single attacks in months.
Ukrainians have reacted to such tragedies during nearly a year of war with unbowed defiance, anger and determination to fight back.
