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Davos Forum, a picture of unbridledness

Geneva, Jan 24 (Prensa Latina) The World Economic Forum ended today in the Swiss city of Davos with a clear picture of the growing technological, productive and commercial rivalry between developed countries, regardless of its consequences for the planet.

According to the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, financial institutions and industries are backtracking on their climate commitments, while the lack of multilateral collaboration prevails, in a “world increasingly adrift,” threatened by two existential dangers: climate change and unregulated artificial intelligence (AI). The event placed cooperation in the era of AI as a central theme, but “there is hardly any evidence of collaboration or intelligence, but abundant evidence of the worsening of many of the world’s problems, from conflicts to inequality and violations of human rights,” he acknowledged.

It is ironic, he exemplified, that 13 of the largest supertanker ports in the world are about to be overwhelmed by rising sea levels, due to the increase in temperatures caused by those same fuels.

Developing nations need a surge in financing for climate action, Guterres recalled; however, the priorities discussed in Davos have nothing to do with the issue or with other urgent issues for human survival.

This Friday, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, urged the European Union (EU) to improve competitiveness and confidence, due to the evident lag compared to the United States, which she attributed to the productivity gap, the inadequacies of the capital market and the banking union within the community block.

Earlier, in a speech by videoconference, President Donald Trump called on global companies to produce on American soil or “simply pay tariffs.” “If you don’t make your product in the United States, which is your prerogative, then you will simply have to pay a tariff, of varying amounts,” he said in his message to the meeting in the Swiss Alps.

At the same time, he promised companies the lowest taxes on Earth if they decide to relocate their production, and confirmed Washington’s intention to use tariffs to direct “hundreds of billions of dollars, and even trillions of dollars” to the treasury coffers of the northern power.

According to the dignitary, the United States “has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth and we are going to use it,” which is in line with its decision to abandon the Paris Agreement on climate change.

European business executives also did not miss the opportunity in Davos to demand the relaxation of regulations and greater incentives in order to increase competitiveness against foreign markets, including China.

Press reports also alluded to the interest of some States in delaying the full implementation of new EU regulations requiring companies to report on their environmental footprint, describing these regulations as an obstacle to competitiveness.

Before the meeting began, the president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende, acknowledged that “we are now in a time of turmoil” in the struggle for a new international economic order.

The unrest in sight, including its military aspect, highlights the complexity of the scenario and the importance of multilateralism in the search for balance in favor of sustainable development and peace on a global scale.

ef/lam/mjm

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