The New world order and Obama leadership face the test
March 17th, 2009
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The New world order and Obama leadership face the test
March 17th, 2009
Custom SearchWorld Economic Forum completed a series of conferences recently that brought together many world leaders to discus world affairs. They termed the discussions "Obama's world". Leaders exchanged ideas on what they think the Obama presidency will bring and whether his leadership will impact on the world peace.
Leaders wanted to see Obama's legacy include making peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, a kind of peace that would see the two live peacefully side by side.
Obama and the US is known to favour Israel's security first and foremost, and in the second place in the priority list is to have the two people get together and agree to live in peace and respect one another's existence.
The US remains on top of competitiveness rankings according to the repoirt below made by World Economic Forum. The report dwells on the past before OBAMA's World.
There is a great deal of expectation worldwide as to what the new administration led by President Obama will do for the world. /API
Key assistant to Obama says we must enter a "new era of global financial responsibility"
• White House envoy offers insights on her “old friend” in the Oval Office
• Timeless values, incredible diversity, opportunity and hope will guide new administration
• Extends call for “new era of global financial responsibility” to all: individuals, governments, corporations, philanthropic organizations
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 29 January 2009 − Valerie Jarrett, fresh from her first week in the new administration of US President Obama, reinforced the president’s call on leaders from all nations to “seize gladly” the duties of collaborating and boldly embrace “a new era of global financial responsibility” to each other, to our families, to our communities, to our country and to the world.”
Jarrett, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, asserted that the spirit of her “hometown” of Chicago shaped the outlook of President Obama and the First Lady through four underlying principles – timeless values, diversity, opportunity and hope – which inform all decisions that will be coming from the White House.
She said the US President was determined that while “our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism these things are old. These things are true.”
“President Obama appreciates and respects those from different backgrounds and cultures,” she said, because his own family draws relatives from four continents. He “instinctively seeks common ground and builds on it.”
President Obama has “inspired people to believe that we could keep the US the land of opportunity,” she said, and that “despite the burden of our time,” he believed “this generation, like previous generations before it, can and will meet the challenge.”
Finally, Jarrett argued that his “improbable journey to the presidency,” was driven by “not blind optimism but rather a hard-earned hope borne out of realism and a deep understanding of how we have overcome so much in the past.”
Those four principles will be marshalled to “rebuild trust” in addressing a host of serious challenges, from the global economic crisis to nuclear proliferation.
Arguing that shared security depends on cooperation, Jarrett emphasized the president’s “commitment to an active diplomacy” with all nations, his intention to roll back the scourge of diseases and, in particular, his plans to check global climate change through raising efficiency standards and engaging with other nations in negotiations. “Listening to you even, and especially, when we disagree.”
In these arenas, by engaging stakeholders and unleashing creativity, Jarrett concluded, “America stands ready to lead again.”
United States Remains On Top Of Competitiveness Rankings
United States Remains On Top Of Competitiveness Rankings
• Nordic countries and Switzerland also among the lead countries
• UK drops down from 9th to 12th place
• The report contains a detailed profile for 134 global economies
• Download the full report, highlights, summary, economy profiles, rankings and more at: http://www.weforum.org/gcr
Geneva, Switzerland 8 October 2008 – The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009, released today by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit. The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has dropped by three places and out of the top 10, mainly attributable to a weakening of its financial markets. The People’s Republic of China continues to lead the way among large developing economies, improving by four places this year and joining the top 30. All of the BRIC economies figure in the top half of the ranking, with China followed by India, Russia and Brazil.Several Asian economies perform strongly with Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea and Taiwan, China in the top 20. In Latin America, Chile is the highest ranked country, followed by Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico.A number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are in the upper half of the rankings, led by Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Tunisia, with particular improvements noted in the Gulf States since last year. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Botswana and Mauritius feature in the top half of the rankings, with several countries from the region measurably improving their competitiveness. Click here to read the highlights of the report.
“Rising food and energy prices, a major international financial crisis and the related slowdown in the world’s leading economies, are confronting policy-makers with new economic management challenges. Today’s volatility underscores the importance of a competitiveness-supporting economic environment that can help national economies to weather these types of shocks in order to ensure solid economic performance going into the future,” said Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA, and co-author of the report.
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report. This year, over 12,000 business leaders were polled in a record 134 global economies. The survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate. The report also includes comprehensive listings of the main strengths and weaknesses of countries, making it possible to identify key priorities for policy reform.
“In an uncertain global financial environment it is more important than ever for countries to put into place the fundamentals underpinning economic growth and development. The World Economic Forum has for many years played a facilitating role in this process by providing detailed assessments of the productive potential of nations worldwide. The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 offers policy-makers and business leaders an important tool in the formulation of improved economic policies and institutional reforms,” noted Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
- Download the full Global Competitiveness Rankings (PDF or Excel format)
- Watch Jennifer Blanke, Chief Economist and Director of the Forum’s Global Competitiveness Network, highlights video hereThe Global Competitiveness Report’s main competitiveness ranking is the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and originally introduced in 2004. The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development. The pillars include: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labour Market Efficiency, Financial Market Sophistication, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication and Innovation.
The second main chapter of the report outlines the main features of the new framework for the Global Competitiveness Index that the World Economic Forum plans to introduce next year. Based on the successful experience with the current GCI as well as the Business Competitiveness Index (BCI) presented in the past, this new framework will provide a stable and integrated methodological basis for future GCRs. The new index, under development by a team under the leadership of Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School, USA, and co-director of the report, will be further tested using additional data and extensively reviewed by leading academics over the coming year. This year’s chapter introduces the main architecture proposed, relates it to the rich academic literature on determinants of prosperity, and presents emerging insights on the different roles and interdependencies of endowments, macroeconomic competitiveness, and microeconomic competitiveness for prosperity. The chapter can be accessed online at www.weforum.org/gcr
The World Economic Forum continues to expand geographic coverage in the report. Featuring a total of 134 global economies, this year’s report is the most comprehensive of its type. Coverage has been expanded to Brunei Darussalam, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Malawi.
The report contains a detailed country/economy profile for each of the 134 economies featured in the study, providing a comprehensive summary of the overall position in the rankings as well as the most prominent competitive advantages and disadvantages of each country/economy based on the analysis used in computing the rankings. Also included is an extensive section of data tables with global rankings covering over 110 indicators.
This year’s report also includes a number of discussions of selected countries including the United Kingdom, Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia, providing an in-depth analysis of the issues affecting national competitiveness.
source.WorldEconomicForum