Growth agenda dominates WEF

Davos - Single biggest issue for the global economy in the next 10 years is job creation in both developed and developing countries, Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit said.

Speaking to the media as co-chair at the World Economic Forum, Pandit said as many of 400 million new jobs will need to be created. While the growth issue is ushered to the forefront of the developed economy especially the crisis hit Eurozone and the US, Paul Polman, Unilever CEO, reiterated that growth and sustainability must go hand in hand.

Pandit highlighted three-prong macro approaches to achieve growth: the first is the re-commitment to globalisation by countries around the world; second, needs for the public and private sectors to work together as they have been at odds for too long; and third: to have a robust financial system.

He conceded that there have been a great deal of anger on the financial crisis and Citibank has adopted three new criteria for lendings: "For my bank staff, responsible finance will mean that the business must be right for the clients, add economic value and systematically responsible."

In his remark, Polman from Unilever, said WEF has fitting theme of "Great Transformation: Shaping New Models" to achieve growth and sustainability. Unilever has three call-for-action agenda: food security to feed the 1 billion people who still go hungry every night, new agricultural models which boost productivity and meet needs of people for higher standard of living and changing dietary, and forging a new form of partnership with NGOs.

Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, said it has become clear that the triangular relations between society, government and business have failed to deliver results and a new approach is needed. He added that pressure for job creation, energy supply and food supply will growth and at Shell "we have to look 30-40 years ahead what actions to take."

Yasuchika Hasegawa, another WEF co-chair and CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan, sees two great transformation taking place. The first is the economic growth shift to emerging market, and the demographic where the global popular is tripling from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 8.6 billion in 2040.

He said the Japanese government is working on a new growth strategy to generate growth with new industires that is also support global agenda such as the environment.