The Davos Debates: will China pull us out of the economic crisis?

• Davos Debates in Dalian to discuss how to relaunch growth and revive the economy
• General public invited to share their thoughts on video and participate in the discussions
• More about the programme and participants: http://www.weforum.org/dalian

Geneva, Switzerland – The World Economic Forum has launched the Davos Debates in China to coincide with its Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, held in Dalian, People’s Republic of China, on 10-12 September. The Davos Debates is a video channel on YouTube dedicated to public debate and discussion with global leaders about key issues affecting our planet.

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, also called the “Summer Davos” in Asia, will focus on reviving economic growth. While government stimulus programmes are critical in the near term, entrepreneurship, innovation and technology will drive a transformational recovery in the long term.

The Forum invites the general public to share their thoughts on how China can be a significant driver in bringing the world economy out of its present recession. YouTubers should answer the following question: Will China pull us out of the economic crisis?

The videos submitted will become part of the discussions at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009. In the World Expo Center in Dalian, a dedicated video corner will allow the over 1,000 industry, government and thought leaders to reply to the videos submitted by the YouTube community. Chinese Internet users will be able to leave their comments on a special page set up on Sina.com, one of China’s top three most popular websites.

Launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos, Switzerland, world leaders such as Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations (1997-2006); Shimon Peres, President of Israel; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey; Henry Kissinger and Mohammad Yunus, among many others, have replied directly to the YouTube community. In January 2009, 24-year old Colombian student Pablo Camacho was chosen for the best video entry and was invited, all expenses paid, to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos as a citizen reporter.

The Forum has hosted similar Davos Debates at its regional meetings in South Africa, in Jordan and in South Korea, with the notable participation of South African President Jacob Zuma and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Furthermore, the plenary sessions and press conferences at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian will be streamed live on Livestream (http://www.livestream.com/worldeconomicforum), and key quotes from the sessions will be tweeted live on the Forum’s Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/davos), allowing a worldwide audience to follow the discussions.

Note to Editors

More information about the Meeting on the Forum’s website http://www.weforum.org/newchampions
Download high-resolution photos of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, free of charge on Flickr
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The official tag is Dalian09. Twitter users, please use the hashtag #Dalian09 for all tweets about the event.
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