"The theme of the World Economic Forum 2011 was, 'Shared norms of the new reality'." — File Photo

HOW far the World Economic Forum has succeeded in evolving a consensus among participants on a  set of new ideas to guide governments and businesses to ‘improve the state of the world economy’? The business leaders in Pakistan are clueless as they neither attended nor followed the event.

The government hierarchy sees the WEF meeting as a dying annual ritual, attended by fewer world political bigwigs. Corporate Pakistan was nervously watching happenings in Tunisia and Egypt and their fallout elsewhere in the Middle East.

Prior to the event there were speculation that the President Zardari might lead a Pakistani delegation to the WEF. In the end, however, the trip was dropped altogether. A few from Pakistan, representing their own companies, who attended the meeting in the snow covered valley of Alps, were not back yet to offer their comments on the deliberations at the forum.

Press reports indicated that the elite gathered in Davos this year was more sharply divided on critical issues. The key players failed to agree over the best way to deal with post-2008 reality. The divergence in the views of the representatives of the US and UK over public spending and different stance by countries on the extent and quality of state oversight on market appear to have widened.

The world financial crisis did not just send the whole world reeling but its' domino affect shook the faith in the market fundamentalism and globalisation as a dependable system with inherent flexibility and ability of self-correction.

A more sober mood and active participation of India and China did change the colour of the discourse between participants eager to moderate extreme positions and open to fresh ideas to cope with new challenges in an unpredictable world, struggling to recover from the severe financial crisis.

The theme of the World Economic Forum 2011 was, 'Shared norms of the new reality'. Beside multiple sessions on relevant themes, high performing India and China competed to impress global investors on what needs to be done. The Indian corporate sector invested heavily to showcase India as the most desirable destination in Asia; The projections included captivating colorful entertainment of Bollywood. Both Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) made their presence felt.

The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has lost its membership of the WEF while its president or the secretary were not aware of the status. Senator Haji Ghulam Ali who assumed office of the FPCCI president a few weeks back told Dawn that he has asked his secretary to find out the status of FPCCI membership for him.

"I will get back to you as soon as I get the update. I believe it to be a failing of the private sector that we let such key business gatherings pass us by. I will make sure next year we are represented", Senator Ali told Dawn.

Abdul Razzak Dawood, a former federal minister and a leading businessman says, the quality of Indian business participation at multilateral forums is linked to their size and ambition. Commenting on the Davos meeting he said: "This year, the timing was bad. No one got time to ponder on what happened in Davos as the events of Tunisia and Egypt have captivated attention of thinking people. In Pakistan like elsewhere, business is terribly nervous as the outcome would affect our interests, both directly and indirectly".

"Besides, the WEF is no more what it used to be, a lab of ideas. It has grown too big a gathering for a meaningful interaction of the world class business leaders. It is not an accident that the participation of leading lights of the world has gone down over the years", he added. Most other senior leaders when contacted said, they did not follow the event.

Kamran Mirza, CEO Pakistan Business Council (PBC)—a think tank, said some of its members went to Davos privately. "I will be able to offer an informed comment on the WEF 2011 after the feedback from friends who attended the meeting and will return over the next few days", said when approached for his observations on the Davos meeting.

A top gun of the government when contacted brushed aside the WEF as a non-event. "Something is happening somewhere in the world all the time and we are not obligated to be in attendance everywhere", a federal minister told Dawn.

"Media publish stories of wasteful spending if we participate and accuse the government of ignorance if we don't", he argued.

Chaudhry Mohammad Saeed, ex president FPCCI told Dawn that the elitist event was beyond the reach of individual local businessman and the collective forums of the private sector did not appreciate the utility of networking and lobbying.

"The membership fee of WEF is one million dollar a year. Five years back the government paid for FPCCI so we became a member. Afterwards no one bothered to give it a thought".

Forums like Davos are extremely important for germination of new ideas. Yes corporate Pakistan leans excessively on the government and lacks visionary leadership to guide it through challenging times", Majyd Aziz, a senior businessman of Karachi lamented.