World leaders wrap up Davos discussions on global issues

The world economy, after experiencing the worst ever crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, is recovering unevenly in different countries and regions, according to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Most participants believe the recovery is being led by fast growing emerging markets like China and India, while the United States and European nations are falling behind.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the recovery, though better than expected, is still fragile.

He urged governments to remain cautious as they examine exit strategies from the various stimulus packages they have implemented in response to the global crisis.

While there is a broad consensus to better regulate the global financial system, participants differed in what kind of changes should be made.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was among those who advocated a bold reform of the financial system. In his opening address on Wednesday he called for a "new Bretton Woods" so that new rules and institutions could be established.

"We will continue to make our economy run risks greater than it can bear, to encourage speculation and to sacrifice our long-term future, if we do not change the regulation of our banking system and the rules for accounting," he said.

However, a more cautious view on financial reforms has also been voiced. "We need good regulation, better regulation but not more regulation," said Lord Levene, chairman of British bank Lloyd's during the meeting.

"We need to fix the right types of changes... and we should not overreact or rush to short-term actions that may sound good or may grab headlines but quite frankly would not serve the fundamental problems all of us need to address," said Dennis Nally, global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose country will host this year's UN climate change conference, called on business and political leaders attending the meeting in Davos, a Swiss Alpine ski resort, to make concerted efforts for a "robust, substantial and comprehensive agreement" on climate change; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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