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Davos: Day 3

Jan 25 2008

Back to: This Year in Davos

Call to Action Millenium Development Goals
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Khalfan bin Mohammed Al-Esry
Davos, Switzerland
Queen Rania of Jordan
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of Nigeria
Bono of U2
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Call to Action
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown (far left), Jordan’s Queen Rania, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U2 lead singer Bono, and other world leaders vowed to spend 2008 working to meet the seven Millenium Development Goals, all of which aim to fight poverty and its effects.
"Not on Our Watch!"
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among the world leaders who issued the call to action to fight poverty, saying, “We are here to say one thing loud and clear: Not on our watch! I speak to those who are most vulnerable to climate change and those who suffer the most grinding poverty. Let 2008 be the year of the bottom billion.”
Working…
Khalfan bin Mohammed Al-Esry, founder and managing director of Prosper Management Consultancy in Oman.
…and Playing
Davos, a Swiss ski resort, has been the meeting place for the World Economic Forum annual meeting since it first started in 1971. In addition to the daily work sessions, participants can ski and attend parties.
A Royal Imperative
Queen Rania of Jordan participated in the Corporate Global Citizenship in the 21st Century, a jam session on how corporations, no longer bystanders in social and societal issues, can participate in global initiatives.
An African Plea
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, president of Nigeria, who joined other world leaders in working to meet the Millennium Development Goals, said, “One of the major challenges in Africa is the infrastructure gap, that is one of the key enables of the achievement of the M.D.G.'s. I welcome this initiative from the global community.”
U2 Can Help
Irish rock singer Bono and his famous sunglasses. Bono is among the many people who answered the Davos Question: How to make the world a better place. And in true Web 2.0 form, all videos can be seen on YouTube.

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Davos: Opening Day

Davos: Opening Day

Corporate bigwigs and world leaders begin discussing global issues at the World Economics Forum. View Slideshow
<strong>Market Movers:</strong> The Millennium Development Goals Take Center Stage

Market Movers: The Millennium Development Goals Take Center Stage

If Bono did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The big press conference at Davos today was full of important people making important statements about how very important it is that we meet the Millennium Development Goals; it fell to Bono to be the scold, and to say how disappointed he is in what the world has achieved so far. Politicians, even good ones like Gordon Brown (who gave an excellent, forceful speech) are by their nature much better at optimism than pessimism, which is why it is that Bono always has a place on such panels: he's the yang to the politicians' yin. ... Read more