The World Economic Forum is a membership-organization which promotes interaction among leaders from government, business, academia and the arts with the objective of improving the state of the world. It has the status of a not-for-profit foundation under Swiss law and is not tied to any political, partisan or regional interests. The World Economic Forum has its headquarters in Geneva, and its President is Klaus Schwab.

The World Economic Forum pursues its aims by organizing high-level meetings and summits, the largest and best-known of which is its Annual Meeting held in the ski resort of Davos in eastern Switzerland. This week-long meeting, informally known as the Davos Symposium, brings together over 800 chief executives, some 200 government leaders, numerous high ranking officials from regional and international organizations, and some 300 experts, scientists, artists and representatives of the media. President Bill Clinton attended the summit in January 2000, the first time a U.S. president had ever attended. In his address, the President focused on the challenge of further trade liberatization and ways in which globalization needs to be adjusted to respond to human and social needs. Other recent high-level U.S. government participants in Davos include Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (2000), First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in a 1998 plenary session address urged government and business leaders to do more to support the civil society, and Vice President Al Gore, who in 1999 announced in Davos the formation of a U.S. -Swiss Joint Economic Commission to strengthen ties between the two countries through increased bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

The World Economic Forum seeks to promote reconciliation processes in regions of conflict or tension, and its annual meeting has often provided the venue for initiatives to that end. In 1988 the prime ministers of Greece and Turkey attending the annual meeting signed the "Davos Declaration," thereby moving their countries back from the brink of conflict, and in 1989 both Koreas met in Davos during the annual meeting for the fist time for dicussions and the ministerial level. In 1994, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat reached a draft agreement in Davos on Gaza and Jericho. In 2000, the World Economic Forum was the site of the launching of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, known as GAVI. (See WHO chapter) The foundation encourages the creation of economic regions as pillars of the world economy. In addition to its Annual Meeting, it organizes and runs regional and national meetings around the world. Recent regional meetings include the Eurasia Economic Summit 2000 in Almaty, Kazakshtan; the China Business Summit 2000 in Beijing; the Mercosur Economic Summit 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the South Africa Economic Summit 2000 in Durban South Africa; and the Central and Eastern European Economic Summit 2000 in Salzburg, Austria. The World Economic Forum also holds a yearly meeting in the United States.

Publications: The Foundation's publications include an annual Global Competitiveness Report which ranks nations worldwide for their competitiveness in the global economy, and a bimonthly economic and political magazine World Link.

Membership: Foundation members are over 1000 companies, from over 70 countries, representing major firms from all sectors of business and industry.

Funding: The World Economic Forum is financed through membership fees and cost contributions from participants in specific events.

Internet
www.weforum.ch
Provides reports from World Economic Forum conferences, information about the foundation, a calendar of meetings, and the World Competitiveness Report.

Additional Resources

Address by President Clinton to the 2000 World Economic Forum
Statements by other U.S. officials at the 2000 World Economic Forum

Address
World Economic Forum
91-93 route de la Capite
1223 Cologny/Geneva
Tel: 869.1212
Fax: 786.2744
E-mail: contact@weforum.org