Saudi Arabia Sends High-Ranking Delegation to World Economic Forum Annual Meeting


The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2024 will be held in Davos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2024 will be held in Davos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Sends High-Ranking Delegation to World Economic Forum Annual Meeting


The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2024 will be held in Davos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2024 will be held in Davos (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia announced that a high-ranking delegation will participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos, Switzerland, from January 15-19, under the theme of "Rebuilding Trust."

The delegation, chaired by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdallah, includes Saudi Ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar, Minister of Commerce Majid al-Kassabi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Envoy for Climate Adel al-Jubeir, Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih, Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah al-Swaha, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef, and Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim.

- Current challenges

The Saudi delegation will address these era-defining challenges by working with the international community to advance substantive global collaboration, drive economic resilience, build sustainable resource security, and harness human-centric innovation.

It would also explore the opportunities offered by emerging technologies and their impact on the policy and decision-making process.

The Saudi delegation will highlight the social and economic progress made within the framework of Vision 2030, the transformation, diversification, and development witnessed by the Kingdom in various fields, and the multiple investment opportunities available across the nation's thriving economy.

- Competitive capabilities

The Saudi delegation will share its expertise in enhancing the Kingdom's attractiveness as a private and foreign investment destination.

The delegation will also review the best practices and solutions developed by the Kingdom to enhance the economy's resilience and achieve financial sustainability, in line with its ambitions for economic diversification and sustainable growth under Vision 2030.

- Enhancing cooperation

The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors to explore future opportunities, review solutions and developments within various economic and development sectors within the framework of international cooperation, and joint work between governments and various institutions.

The Forum brings together representatives from more than 100 governments, major international organizations, and more than 1,000 major private sector players, in addition to representatives of civil society and academic institutions.

The theme "Rebuilding Trust" highlights the importance of joint international action in confronting humanitarian, climate, social, and economic challenges.

- Global risks

In addition, the Global Risks Report 2024 issued by the World Economic Forum warned of a global risk landscape that will witness a decline in human development. It will weaken countries and individuals and expose them to new risks.

Given the systemic changes in global power mechanisms, climate, technology, and demographic distribution, global risks impose significant pressures that may exhaust the world's ability to adapt.

The report said that these matters are among its most prominent findings, which showed that cooperation on global issues is declining and that there is an urgent need to adopt approaches to address global risks.

The transnational risks will become harder to handle as global cooperation erodes.

In this year's Global Risks Perception Survey, two-thirds of respondents predict that a multipolar order will dominate in the next ten years as middle and great powers set and enforce – but also contest – current rules and norms.

WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said underlying geopolitical tensions combined with the eruption of active hostilities in multiple regions contribute to an unstable global order characterized by polarizing narratives, eroding trust, and insecurity.

Zahidi warned that the situation leaves ample room for accelerating risks – like misinformation and disinformation – to propagate in societies that have already been politically and economically weakened in recent years.

- Misinformation and Conflict

Emerging as the most severe global risk anticipated over the next two years, foreign and domestic actors will leverage misinformation and disinformation to widen societal and political divides further.

Cost-of-living pressures continue to bite amidst persistently elevated inflation, interest rates, and economic uncertainty in much of the world.

Misinformation and disinformation have risen rapidly in rankings to first place for the two-year timeframe, and the risk is likely to become more acute as elections in several economies take place this year.

Interstate armed conflict is a new entrant into the top risk rankings over the two-year horizon as both a product and driver of state fragility.

With many conflicts currently ongoing in different parts of the world, the risks of geopolitical tensions and declining community resilience may lead to the spread of conflict contagion.

- Economic uncertainty and declining development

The continued state of economic uncertainty and the widening of the financial and technical gap are among the most prominent features of the coming years, and the lack of economic opportunities ranked sixth in risks over the next two years.

In the long term, obstacles to economic mobility are expected to increase, which will lead to the deprivation of large segments of the population of economic opportunities.

In addition, countries affected by conflict or climate risks may become isolated from investment, advanced technologies, and new employment opportunities.

In the absence of guaranteed and secure livelihoods, individuals may become more vulnerable to involvement in crime, militancy, and extremism.

- The planet is in danger

It is expected that environmental risks continue to dominate the risk landscape over all three timeframes, while the report called on business leaders to reconsider the steps that must be taken to confront global risks.

The report recommended focusing global cooperation efforts on accelerating the construction of protection barriers against the most urgent emerging risks, such as signing agreements to integrate artificial intelligence in the decision-making process.



Euro Zone Poised to Enter Trade Quagmire as Trump Wins

A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
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Euro Zone Poised to Enter Trade Quagmire as Trump Wins

A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)
A container ship unloads its cargo in the German port of Hamburg (Reuters)

As Trump 2.0 becomes a reality, Europe is poised to enter a new geopolitical and trade quagmire with its biggest trading partner.

Donald Trump's victory may harm Europe's economy as proposed 10% US tariffs risk hitting European exports such as cars and chemicals, eroding Europe's GDP by up to 1.5% or about €260 billion.

Analysts warn of European Central Bank (ECB) rate cuts, euro weakness, and a recession risk.

According to several economic analyses, there is broad agreement that Trump's proposed 10% universal tariff on all US imports may significantly disrupt European growth, intensify monetary policy divergence, and strain key trade-dependent sectors such as autos and chemicals.

The long-term effects on Europe's economic resilience could prove even more significant if tariffs lead to protracted trade conflicts, prompting the European Central Bank (ECB) to respond with aggressive rate cuts to cushion the impact, according to Euronews.

Trump's proposed across-the-board tariff on imports, including those from Europe, could profoundly impact sectors such as cars and chemicals, which rely heavily on US exports.

Data from the European Commission shows that the European Union exported €502.3 billion in goods to the US in 2023, making up a fifth of all non-European Union exports.

European exports to the US are led by machinery and vehicles (€207.6 billion), chemicals (€137.4 billion), and other manufactured goods (€103.7 billion), which together comprise nearly 90% of the bloc's transatlantic exports.

ABN Amro analysts, including head of macro research Bill Diviney, warn that tariffs “would cause a collapse in exports to the US,” with trade-oriented economies such as Germany and the Netherlands likely to be hardest hit.

According to the Dutch bank, Trump's tariffs would shave approximately 1.5 percentage points off European growth, translating to a potential €260 bn economic loss based on Europe's estimated 2024 GDP of €17.4 tn.

Should Europe's growth falter under Trump's tariffs, the European Central Bank (ECB) may be compelled to respond aggressively, slashing rates to near zero by 2025.

In contrast, the US Federal Reserve may continue raising rates, leading to “one of the biggest and most sustained monetary policy divergences” between the ECB and the Fed since the euro's inception in 1999.

Dirk Schumacher, head of European macro research at Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking Germany, suggests that a 10% tariff increase could reduce GDP by approximately 0.5% in Germany, 0.3% in France, 0.4% in Italy, and 0.2% in Spain.

Schumacher warns that “the euro area could slide into recession in response to higher tariffs.”

According to Goldman Sachs' economists James Moberly and Sven Jari Stehn, the broad tariff would likely erode eurozone GDP by approximately 1%.

Goldman Sachs analysts project that a 1% GDP loss translates into a hit to earnings per share (EPS) for European firms by 6-7 percentage points, which would be sufficient to erase expected EPS growth for 2025.