Emerging Economies Gain a Voice at Davos 2010 By JACK EWING
Published: January 26, 2010
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — Anyone at the World Economic Forum who wants a break from talking about what is wrong with the world can wander over to a Davos nightclub where the D.J. Megha Kawale will be spinning Bollywood tunes into the wee hours, compliments of an Indian business group.
But it would be a mistake to think the Indians are just bringing a bouncy soundtrack to the Davos convocation of the world’s financial elite. Representatives from India and other emerging nations come with more claim than ever to steer the debate.
Developing countries now account for nearly half of global output, compared to little more than one-third in 1990. The Group of 20 leading economic powers, which includes nations like China, Argentina and South Africa, as well as the United States and other wealthy countries, has emerged as the dominant forum for economic diplomacy.
Companies like Huawei, a maker of telecommunications equipment that has its headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and Wipro, the outsourcing company based in Bangalore that is helping sponsor the late-night Bollywood revelry, are now as visible as the European companies that have long dominated the annual winter conference in the Swiss mountains.
From the rising powers of the world like China, India and Brazil, “you didn’t used to have these large, global corporations, and that changes the dialogue,” said Tidjane Thiam, group chief executive of Prudential, which is based in London but is the largest life insurer in Indonesia and other emerging countries.
Other things have changed as well. Global financial crises, like the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s or Latin America’s perennial debt disasters, used to emanate from vulnerable corners of the developing world.