Diplomatic World_nummer 56.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM DAVOS
From 23th till 26th of January 2018, the 48th Global
Economic Forum in Davos took place and suffered the
heaviest snowfall in the meeting’s 48-year history. But this
year, even more government leaders from all over the world
braved the snow and were present in the Swiss mountains,
than the year before. This year’s forum carried the theme
“Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”. This
Global event wants to “unite” every year more and more
intensively, because all country leaders claim to be globalists,
no protectionists, even Trump? We will find out how strong
Trumps words were at the closing speech of the WEF.
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After Trump started his Presidency in January 2017, the
US Dollar weakened significantly during his first year of his
leadership and gave the US export sector a boost. According
to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi this
drop of the USD was not driven by the economy, but a
consequence of “public” statements. And this is “not” in
line with the G-20 Commitment to refrain from competitive
devaluations. Trump told CNBC at the WEF that he
“ultimately would like to see a stronger dollar”.
The message in his closing speech was clear; “when America
grows, so does the world”. The drive for excellence, creativity
and innovation in the US has led to important discoveries
and help people everywhere to live more prosperous and
healthier lives. This should be the lesson for all political
leaders. Governments have to stimulate growth and countries
have to work together. Prosper words, but how is the real
praxis? Trump’s tax reform appears to be good for business,
as companies will invest more and increase wages. The tax
cuts are presenting European countries with a dilemma: Do
they follow the U.S. and cut their own corporate tax rates,
risking a race to the bottom? Or do they stay back and risk
losing business to the U.S.? German Chancellor Angela
Merkel talked about Europe taking some responsibility for
its own future and French President Emmanuel Macron
has made a pitch to investors on France’s behalf. But there
doesn’t seem to be a clear European consensus on what to
do going forward. Trump’s move into the White house a year
ago with his “America First” agenda pushed EU policymakers
to keep markets open worldwide. The EU continued building
on existing European free-trade pacts with partners like
Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea and the Mercosur
group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. “America
first does not mean America alone”.
At Davos this year we saw a clash of visions, or even
ideologies. Europe’s message is that social democracy doesn’t
only deliver lower levels of inequality, but also delivers
growth and stable politics. America First is about higher
walls and lower taxes and a state that is looking mainly after
the corporate sector. Can the two coexist comfortably?
The move to work strongly together and create a sustainable
growth is one of the important lessons we read in Marga
Hoek’s book “The Trillion Dollar Shift” launched at the WEF.
Marga Hoek is working her whole life, helping and creating
a more sustainable growth, because in the end only a
sustainable business model is profitable for all of us. We
constantly have to work on “awareness” of this sustainable
business model and the politicians have to create the context,
not “against” each other but “cooperating” with each other.
There is no Plan B, because we do not have a Planet B.
The Trillion Dollar Shift by Marga Hoek (2018) documents
the contributions of the various businesses to the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) as created by
the United Nations. It also shows the opportunities for all
businesses to impact those SDG’s on a Global scale. The
book is a call to action for both business and capital to reach
the SDG’s by 2030.
The Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) drive change and offer a
narrative and an opportunity to all to speak in one language