Wednesday 25 January 2012

Davos - World Economic Forum

The following press release was issued on 24 January 2012.

Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town to participate in World Economic Forum

The Most Revd Dr. Thabo C Makgoba leaves today to participate in the Annual Meeting 2012 of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 25-29 January.

This 2012 Annual Meeting will convene under the theme, The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models, ‘whereby leaders return to their core purpose of defining what the future should look like, aligning stakeholders around that vision and inspiring their institutions to realize that vision.’

As part of the WEF programme the Archbishop will be a panellist in the session entitled ‘The Future of Democracy in Africa.’ It will address how established and nascent democracies being reformed and shaped to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

He will also be a discussion leader in the session ‘What will be the major ideological shifts of the 21st century?’ asking what the major ideological shifts of the 21st century might be.

As he prepared to leave South Africa’s beautiful summer for icy Davos, the Archbishop said, “I am once again looking forward to this meeting where faith intersects and interrogates capitalism. My hope is that God's capital will be spread and used especially for all of God’s people, and in this process care will be exercised over the environment. I believe deeply that democracy should not benefit a select few nor be imposed by others, but should be contextual ".

The World Economic Forum describes itself as an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman on 021-763-1320 (office hours).

For more information about the WEF Annual Meeting see: www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2012