The WEF meeting at Davos is one of the biggest extravaganzas for the global elite.

This involves government personnel, CXOs, luminaries, academicians, etc. The world’s richest people visit Davos and meet like-minded people.

But does this serve a larger purpose?

A world decoupled

The significant development in the last five years is that countries have become less open as they seek to decouple from globalisation, post-Covid.

The Ukraine war divided the world and the chasm widened with Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza.

In both cases, the world has expressed umbrage but does not physically intervene.

In such a situation, deliberations on ways to make the world better, which is the charter of the WEF, end up being no better than banal coffee-table discussions.

This is hardly different from the meetings of G7, G20, BRICS, WTO, and Fund-Bank which don’t help bridge the political or economic divide.

Elite group

WEF is an elite group where one pays upwards of $69,000 as membership and then comes in free to attend these deliberations over a period of 4-5 days.

The entry fee for companies can be $30,000 or ₹25 lakh. There could be around 2,500-3,000 dignitaries coming in. Their stay can cost from $2,500 a day to $30,000 per week for a chalet.

Attending private sessions could put one back by $130,000 for the entire period.

This forum is clearly for the affluent and an opportunity to network. The issues discussed are really no-brainers.

While the theme for 2024 was “Rebuilding Trust”, issues like global warming, inequality, fostering trade growth and addressing slowdown in countries were talked about.

The question is how seriously they are taken by companies and countries.

A large tech firm in the US in the past was known to have laid off 10,000 staff as part of cost-cutting while sponsoring a live performance of the popular pop-icon Sting at Davos. Doesn’t this sound hypocritical?

The irony is not lost when over 3,000 people including media and other staff fly into Switzerland at this time and talk of climate change and the need to preserve the ozone layer.

Hurting climate

This is only less incongruous as the COP28 held in Dubai, which had over 85,000 visitors discussing climate change.

It has been observed that some of the leaders of the G-7 nations have stopped attending these meetings and often send someone down the line. Ukraine was active last year as the aim was to garner support.

The cost factor keeps out the majority which also means that the other side can never be heard.

With the top corporates across the world being present, the discussion would be largely around their limited capitalist goals.

Majority left out

This is why critics feel that one should not pay too much attention to Davos. It is a high-end snob club where the majority of the groups get left out.

The question of relevance applies not just to the WEF, but also to multilateral agencies such as the UN, IMF, World Bank, ADB, WTO, and IFC.

The days of bringing about change in which governments operate are over.

The example of Argentina is stark where the IMF has been bailing out the country; and yet there are no hard decisions being taken by the government.

The relevance of the UN, as being responsible for world peace, is also under a cloud. After all, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Israel are members of the UN.

The writer is Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda. Views are personal