As West lags, World Economic Forum turns to emerging regions

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is mainly associated with its annual meetings held amid snowy Swiss mountains in Davos. But lately, organisers have been shifting more and more of their activities to faster-growing regions outside Europe.
"The development of the WEF mirrors global development," the organisation's founder and chief Klaus Schwab said at his headquarters on the banks of Lake Geneva. "The world economic map now has more centres than a few years ago." The Forum has currently scheduled conferences for leaders in businesses, governments and scientific institutions in China, Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates in the coming months, until global attention again turns to the Davos meeting in late January.
Next year, the WEF foundation plans to open an office in India, besides the ones in Cologny near Geneva, New York and Beijing. The Forum draws its clout from its 100 so-called strategic partners - major companies that pay 500,000 Swiss francs (516,000 dollars) a year to be included in this virtual think tank. The list includes Russian industrial group Basic Element, Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei and the Indian oil group Reliance Industries. "In recent years, more and more companies from emerging markets are included," said Yann Zopf, a WEF spokesman.
Companies have been approaching the Swiss organisation to be included on the list, and politicians from such countries have approached the WEF to lobby for conferences to be held in their territories. However, although meeting venues have been moving away from Europe, the European debt crisis has a firm place on the agenda.
For example, the WEF's New Champions meeting for up-and-coming leaders in the Chinese city Tianjin next month features a session called European Crisis, Global Impact. European problems would likely again be an important topic in Davos, said Schwab, who started his organisation in 1971 as a management forum and now serves as the executive chairman.
"The coming months will show whether the euro debt crisis will again dominate so many debates," the 74-year-old former industrial manager said. But he made clear that global risks also lurk in emerging regions. "The halting recovery of US economic growth, slowing growth in China and the mixed picture of development in emerging markets are just as pressing," he said.