A delegation from Smart-Holding headed by the Company's CEO Alexey Pertin took part in the 48th World Economic Forum (WEF), which took place on 23-26 January in Davos (Switzerland).
Traditionally, Smart-Holding has been acting as a WEF's partner since 2008.
About 3 thousand delegates from more than 100 countries took part in the forum.
The main topic of the WEF meeting was entitled as Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World. Its participants discussed ways to overcome the social stratification that persists in the context of the ending global crisis and the world's largest countries approaching the trajectory of sustainable economic development. The participants also considered the prospects for economic and social growth in the dramatically changed global geopolitical context and the emergence of significant geostrategic faults on the world map.
"In my opinion, this is the most representative forum in its history, both in terms of the number of participants and in terms of the presence of world leaders. Before the summit itself, the Financial Times wrote that participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos named the possible use of weapons of mass destruction among the biggest threats for 2018. Other threats have receded into the background. For our country, where the war is continuing, such fears are quite clear. Businessmen have radically reformatted their strategies, taking into account risks that were not considered earlier. Rapidly shrinking horizon of rational economic forecasts has become a clear trend of recent years. This makes long-term planning impossible, which in itself is a serious challenge for business. Today, plasticity and flexibility of strategies in the context of rapidly changing economic and geopolitical conditions are not only the key to success, but also the key to survival. The Forum presented an alternative system for assessment of countries’ economic development, a more up-to-date analogue of GDP, which includes 11 additional parameters, the Inclusive Development Index. Interestingly, previously recognized leaders have fallen in the rating. Ukraine ranks only among the TOP 50. As a representative of business, I agree with this assessment – corruption has reached new heights, and the economy is stagnating. This is also confirmed by steps made by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), which, on the eve, announced the raising of the bank rate to 16%. In 2014, it was 6.5%. This means a rise in inflation, a signal to business that there will be no cheap money and a number of other negative consequences. However, the NBU does not deal with the development of the economy, it has to respond," said Alexey Pertin.
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The World Economic Forum is an international organization of public-private cooperation. The main event of the Forum is the annual meeting, which is traditionally held in Davos in late January – early February to discuss the key issues of the global economy.
Smart-Holding is one of the largest industrial and investment groups in Ukraine combining companies that share common strategic objectives and business principles. The interests of Smart-Holding focus on the industries that are the key ones for the economy of the country. Smart-Holding’s companies invest in metals and mining, oil and gas segment, banking, agriculture, development, shipbuilding and real estate. The Group’s companies also participate in other business projects as portfolio investors.