The World Economic Forum, which organises the annual Davos meeting of the business and political elite, hopes January's gathering will do a better job of responding to the financial crisis than current ad-hoc action. "Confidence in our global governance institutions is at an all time low," Lee Howell, WEF head of programming, told Reuters, adding that the uncoordinated early responses to the crisis highlighted the need for better global governance. As the crisis escalated in recent weeks, the WEF restructured the Jan. 28-Feb. 1 meeting at the Swiss mountain resort under a new theme: "Shaping the Post-Crisis World". Themes will include promoting stability in the financial system and reviving global growth, addressing challenges of sustainability and development and ensuring effective global, regional and national governance for the long term. "The annual meeting can help catalyse the practical cooperation and collaborative innovation that is much needed globally," Howell said. "Integrated thinking is largely absent from our existing governance architecture as well as corporate boardrooms." Howell said the WEF, founded in 1971 as an independent organisation committed to improving the state of the world, had responded to crises in the past like the Gulf War, the bursting of the tech bubble and the Sept. 11 attacks. "However, the current financial crisis with its systemic impact, structural versus cyclical nature and its American origins certainly make next year's meeting different given the scale and scope of the economic crisis," he said. "This means renewed focus on the global imbalances that precipitated the current crisis, an objective assessment of systemic economic risks that remain, and the design of a new financial architecture that integrates the concerns of all stakeholders in the global economy." Davos was attended by more than 2,000 businessmen and politicians last year as well as 24 heads of state. "We are seeing the early confirmation of quite a number of important heads of state and government who are keen to engage leaders from industry, media and civil society," Howell said. In the meantime, the WEF has launched a new online platform to allow policymakers and executives to exchange ideas between meetings. Over 700 members of the organisation's "global agenda councils" will meet in Dubai on Nov. 7-9 to prepare for Davos.
