Davos, Switzerland – Germany’s chancellor urged the world Wednesday to exploit the positive aspects of globalization and told international political and business leaders that battling climate change and securing energy supplies had to be among the planet’s key priorities.
Angela Merkel, now also head of the European Union’s revolving presidency and of the G-8 group of industrial nations, spoke out strongly in favor of continued economic development but warned against conducting business as usual to the detriment of the world’s poor and unstable nations.
“I know that responsibility grows with economic success,” she told participants in this year’s annual World Economic Forum. Her keynote address touched on the meeting’s main focus – the world’s economic and political “Shifting Power Equation” as new nations and regions emerge to challenge traditional Western supremacy.
Besides Merkel, about 24 heads of state were due to attend the five-day meeting, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Several participants welcomed President Bush’s call in his State of the Union address for greater domestic oil production, a quadrupling of the nation’s production of alternative fuels over the next decade and the recognition that global climate change is a serious issue.
Former Sen. Tim Wirth, a Colorado Democrat who was a former U.S. chief negotiator on the Kyoto Protocol meant to address climate change, said the remarks were short on specifics. But he added that Bush was “understanding finally that this is a serious issue that the U.S. has to address.” Wirth said the U.S. needed to provide leadership and acknowledged it would be hard for Bush to do that.
