Chinese President Xi Jin Ping speaks at the online Davis forum on January 17, 2022. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Under the theme “Working Together, Restoring Trust”, the Forum brings together world leaders to address the state of the world in the past year.

To be discussed at the 5-day event are critical global issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4^th Industrial Revolution, energy transformation, climate crisis, sustainable development, and global economic prospects.

In his opening speech, UN Secretary General António Guterres mentioned three urgent issues that need tackling to help the world escape the current medical and economic crises and ensure sustainable development.

According to Guterres, the first priority must be confronting the pandemic with equity and fairness, especially in vaccine allocations and treatment access.

The second mission is reforming the global financial system in a way that it can work for all countries without being biased, especially when low-income countries are at a huge disadvantage and  experiencing their slowest growth in a generation.

The third mission is supporting real climate action in developing countries, with global emissions set to increase 14% by 2030.

The UN chief concluded that several countries need the support, ideas, financing, and voice of the global business community. If debt relief and financing are not provided to developing countries, a lopsided recovery could be created that would send an interconnected global economy into a tailspin, he said.