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Power shifts at the World Economic Forum

By Mark Landler
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
Friday, Jan 26, 2007, Page 9

The World Economic Forum convened its annual conference here on Wednesday with the theme "Shaping the Global Agenda: The Shifting Power Equation."

To judge by the names on the guest list -- and those not on it - -- the phrase aptly reflects the turnout at this high-altitude huddle.

Missing are Davos regulars like Bill Clinton, as well as marquee names from the Bush administration, which is sending only its trade negotiator, a deputy secretary of the Treasury, and a few other officials.

On the list is Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, newest member of the club of rising world economies, as well as Chad Hurley, the head of YouTube, the Internet site that allows anyone to post a video on the Web.

"The power shift is twofold," said Klaus Schwab, the Swiss organizer who has managed to keep Davos a hot ticket for three decades by glomming onto the latest political and business trends.

"Power is shifting from the center to the periphery, and from the top to the bottom," he said.

Schwab insists there will be no shortage of familiar names at this Alpine ski resort, with 24 heads of state or government, 85 Cabinet ministers and more than 800 corporate chiefs. But the sense of scarcity from the US, Europe and elsewhere is hard to miss in the program.

For example, Schwab played down the absence of a top US President George W. Bush administration official like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was invited to speak but could not find time. Senator John McCain, a strong presidential candidate, however, will be here to give his views on Iraq and other issues.

"People may be interested to listen to him to get the longer-term perspective," Schwab said in an interview.

Some of the traditional heavyweights who do plan to attend are themselves victims of fading fortunes. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will close the conference with a speech that amounts to a farewell address -- his tenure running out amid recriminations over the Iraq war.

John Browne, the chief executive of BP and a co-chairman of the conference, has announced he will step down from the giant energy company in July, a year earlier than planned, after a team of outside investigators harshly criticized BP for safety lapses that led to 15 deaths at its Texas refinery.

Celebrity

Davos also says it is shunning Hollywood celebrities, even though they lent this sober event a dash of sex appeal. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who stopped moguls and ministers in their tracks last year, will not be here, leaving Bono, the Irish rock star who has assumed a statesman's mantle, to twinkle on his own.

"We noticed there was undue publicity given to the attendance of those celebrities at the last meeting," Schwab said.

"We have to be careful that we are not hijacked by the celebrity world," he said.

That does not mean the World Economic Forum is playing down big names in other fields. Among the political leaders scheduled to take part are German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Gordon Brown, Blair's presumptive heir; King Abdullah of Jordan and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, who cancelled last year.

Davos lost another sure-fire draw when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had planned to discuss climate-related issues, pulled out after breaking his leg in a skiing accident.

Climate change will nevertheless be a lively topic of conversation, and not just because the Swiss Alps have had little snow during this mild winter. There will be 17 sessions on climate-related issues, and the organizers are hoping for announcements on a number of initiatives.

Corporate

From the corporate world, the organizers have booked repeat guests like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Carlos Ghosn of Renault and Nissan and the Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, plus a few newcomers, like Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil.

Rupert Murdoch, who last attended the conference when it was held in New York in 2002, is scheduled to come. Murdoch will take part in a panel about the global agenda.

For anyone with a laptop or a BlackBerry, the future of media will be clear in the Web logs that are proliferating at the conference, including ones by the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The organizers are aggregating blogs in something called the "Davos Conversation."

Debate

Already, bloggers are busy debating the merits of minute-by-minute coverage of the doings at Davos. For some, the openness at a gathering of world leaders is welcome. Others wonder whether the ubiquitous scrutiny will reduce the likelihood of anything real getting done here.

In truth, Davos has rarely been a place for political breakthroughs, and while the schmoozing opportunities are nonpareil, it is not a seedbed for business deals, like Allen & Company's annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Schwab views the spread of Web logs as more evidence of the changing power equation. He said he might have to rethink guidelines for reporting events, which put many of the sessions off the record.

Trade

The one issue on which progress is possible at Davos -- trade -- will be discussed behind closed doors. More than 30 trade and agricultural ministers are expected here, including the US trade representative, Susan Schwab, and the chief European negotiator, Peter Mandelson.

Tomorrow, the ministers will gather to try to revive the stalled Doha round of global trade negotiations. After reports of a renewed focus on reaching a deal in the US and Europe, there is cautious optimism that Doha could get a breath of new life in Davos.

"Everyone knows we're just about out of time," said a spokesman for the WTO, Keith Rockwell, referring to the expiration this summer of Bush's special negotiating authority.

"This will mark the negotiations' kicking into a higher gear," he said.
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