Honestly speaking, I think businessmen can make their deals in restaurants or on the golf course. They don t need to come to Davos for that. But at World Economic Forum events they have the opportunity together with government leaders, NGO representatives, artists, writers and others to make a real difference, to make the world a better place. And I think the Forum s critics may seriously underestimate the enthusiasm for that, and the depth of commitment we see in Davos. I think we have a great opportunity to work together because I think we share many common goals.
Global integration has good and bad aspects.
We d like to enhance the positives and diminish the negatives, and I think most responsible nongovernmental organizations share that goal. What we hope to do is integrate representatives of NGOs in a more-task oriented, purposeful way. Let s give ourselves a challenge and try to work together to solve it. We may disagree on some political issues, but I think we all agree that there are too many hungry people in the world. And that there are too many sick children.