Swiss flag at Geneva Lake in Geneva, Switzerland.
Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
A growing number of wealthy Americans are opening bank accounts in Switzerland as part of the “de-Americanization” of their portfolios, according to investors and banks.
“I have already told you everything,” she said. “I should have the freedom to do what I would like.”
But she did not object when I accompanied her back to her hotel. She stayed up for hours in the lobby chatting with friends about Jungian astrology, the controversy at the 1980 Chopin competition and a suitor who once told her that she had so many personalities, she could date several people at once. She grew obsessed at one point with proving that a waxy-looking plant in the lobby was real, burying her nose in its branches and digging into the soil.
“Look at this,” she said to her friends. “You see? Every leaf is different. It’s alive.”
As we parted around 4 a.m., I asked Argerich one more question. I noticed that evening that she had lingered outside the concert hall, looking at the stars. I wondered if she ever pondered her place in the universe.
Argerich said she sometimes reflected on the absurdity of a life spent hunched over black and white keys. “What are we pianists?” she said. “Nothing. We think it is so extraordinary. But it is not.”
As a storm blew in, filling the streets with rain, Argerich said she had made peace with her life.
“I don’t ask anymore,” she said. “I just play.”
Audio excerpts, all with Martha Argerich: Schumann, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, conductor; Schumann, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Washington Castro, conductor; Bach, Partita No. 2 in C Minor; Ravel, “Gaspard de la Nuit”; Schumann, “Kinderszenen”; Beethoven, Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Renaud Capuçon, violin; Chopin, Polonaise in A-flat Major; Chopin, Scherzo in C-Sharp Minor; Chopin, Mazurka in A Minor; Chopin, Nocturne in F Major; Chopin, Cello Sonata in G Minor, Mischa Maisky, cello; Rachmaninoff, Suite for Two Pianos No. 2 in C Major, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, piano. Credit: Warner Classics (“Martha Argerich: The Warner Classics Edition“); Teatro Colón; Deutsche Grammophon (“Maisky-Argerich, Live in Japan”).
“When I try a role, if I feel it’s too heavy for me then I will never do it,” she told Mr. Duffie. “I might just wait perhaps until later, but I wouldn’t do something which hurts the voice, and where I have to force against the orchestra. That’s impossible.”
Edith Mathis was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Feb. 11, 1938. She once recalled in an interview with the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Switzerland’s leading newspaper, that her parents, and particularly her mother, cultivated her ambition to sing. In her teenage years, she said, she typed invoices in an office in the morning, to placate parents worried about the uncertainties of a career in music, and in the afternoons went to the local conservatory. She also studied at the conservatory in Zurich.
She made her operatic debut in 1957 at the City Theater in Lucerne as the Second Boy in “The Magic Flute.” From 1959 to 1963 she was part of the ensemble at the Cologne Opera House, and in 1963 she joined the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
She first sang at the Salzburg Festival in 1960, in a concert, and at the Glyndebourne Festival in England, as Cherubino, in 1962.
She won a number of awards for her recordings, including the Prix Mondial du Disque de Montreux, in Switzerland, and taught song and oratorio at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna from 1992 to 2006. She made her last appearance as a singer in 2001.
Ms. Mathis is survived by her husband, Heinz Slunecko, an art collector, and two children, Bettina Mathis and Tom Mathis. An earlier marriage, to the conductor Bernhard Klee, ended in divorce.
In her interview with Mr. Duffie, Ms. Mathis spoke of the singer’s isolation:
“We have no excuse,” she said. “A conductor can say, ‘They didn’t play well for me,’ and a pianist can say, ‘The piano was very bad, and was not in tune, or was a very old instrument,’ but we singers are our instruments, and we have to do the whole business ourselves.”
When it comes to driving, some traffic rules are universal: stop at red lights, give way to pedestrians, and stick to speed limits. However, each country has its own laws and regulations that have come into existence due to local customs, geography, and even culture. Laws in one country might sound bizarre to others, but understanding them will not only make your traveling experience smooth, but might also help you to stay out of trouble on foreign roads. Let us look at some of the bizarre traffic regulations from around the world that you would never expect.
In Zermatt, Swim in Europe’s highest outdoor pool and spa at 2,222 meters above sea level! (In frame: ST _ Riffelalp Resort, Zermatt)
If there is one country that has earned its reputation of being the wellness centre of the world for decades now, it is Switzerland! Renowned for its pristine natural environment and therapeutic expertise, the country’s health and wellness institutions culture offer a variety of exceptional opportunities for you to unwind, recharge and reset!
Try out these three unique Swiss wellness experiences the next time you travel to the country and change the way you feel and think!
Nestled in the picturesque town of Zermatt and surrounded by the majestic Swiss Alps lies Europe’s highest outdoor pool and spa! Located at the Riffelalp resort, this exclusive retreat overlooking the Matterhorn not only offers breathtaking views but also provides the most serene atmosphere to relax and revitalize amidst nature’s grandeur. Here, you can indulge in a steam bath at the Schönbiel cave where temperatures between 40 – 50°C do wonders for your skin health and circulation. Finnish and organic saunas detoxify your body of all stress. During summer, the Zermatt landscape provides an ideal backdrop to sun bathe for your daily dose of VitD!
Want to be one with the verdant forests of Switzerland and feel the power of nature cleanse your soul? Explore a barefoot journey through the woods of Switzerland, where, with each step, you can immerse yourself in the purest of sights, sounds and scents. Woodland wellness is known to offer an unforgettable experience for both body and soul. At the Salzano Hotel, Spa and Restaurant in Interlaken, that recognises the strong life force of these forests, you will be pampered with the healing power of nature be it through its alpine-herbs, lemon or Edelweiss body wraps. Pine bio saunas or stamp massages, all while being surrounded by the tranquility of nature.
Immerse yourself in some history and luxury at Hürlimannbad and Spa where century-old vaults have been transformed into a haven of relaxation. The combination of historic architecture and modern spa amenities creates a truly unique ambiance for rejuvenation. Take a dip in the bubbling fresh and warm thermal water, sourced straight Zurich’s ‘Aqui’ spring packed with minerals. The infinity pool on the roof, offering a spectacular panoramic view over Zurich and a bistro serving both hot and cold delicacies, make this experience nothing short of spectacular!
When your mind is at peace, your body rested and rejuvenated amidst idyllic Swiss settings with perfect weather setting your mood just right, you know you’ve left no stone unturned for your own ‘self-care’!
Swiss singer Nemo won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with “The Code,” an operatic ode to the singer’s journey toward embracing their nongender identity.
Nemo beat Croatia’s Baby Lasagna to the title by winning the most points from a combination of national juries and viewers around the world.
“Thank you so much,” Nemo said after the result was announced. “I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person.”
Martin Sylvest / Getty Images
The victory in the Swedish city of Malmo followed a turbulent year for the pan-continental pop contest that saw large street protests against the participation of Israel that tipped the feelgood musical celebration into a chaotic pressure cooker overshadowed by the war in Gaza.
Hours before the final, Dutch competitor Joost Klein was expelled from the contest over a backstage altercation that was being investigated by police.
Nemo bested finalists from 24 other countries, who all performed in front of a live audience of thousands and an estimated 180 million viewers around the world. Each contestant had three minutes to meld catchy tunes and eye-popping spectacle into performances capable of winning the hearts of viewers. Musical styles ranged across rock, disco, techno and rap — sometimes a mashup of more than one.
Though Eurovision’s motto is “united by music,” this year’s event has proven divisive. Protests and dissent overshadowed a competition that has become a campy celebration of Europe’s varied — and sometimes baffling — musical tastes and a forum for inclusiveness and diversity with a huge LGBT following.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched for the second time in a week on Saturday through Sweden’s third-largest city, which has a large Muslim population, to demand a boycott of Israel and a cease-fire in the seven-month Gaza war that has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Several hundred gathered outside the Malmo Arena before the final, with some shouting “shame” at arriving music fans, and facing off with police blocking their path. Climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those escorted away by police.
The contest returned to Sweden, home of last year’s winner, Loreen, a half century after ABBA won Eurovision with “Waterloo” — Eurovision’s most iconic moment. ABBA did not appear in person in Malmo, though their digital “ABBA-tars” from the “ABBA Voyage” stage show did.
A trio of former Eurovision winners — Charlotte Perrelli, Carola and Conchita Wurst — came onstage to sing “Waterloo” as votes were being cast and counted.
Sweden’s entry, identical twins Marcus and Martinus, opened the competition with their optimistically named song “Unforgettable,” followed by Ukrainian duo alyona alyona & Jerry Heil with “Teresa & Maria,” a powerful tribute to their war-battered country.
Eurovision organizers ordered a change to the original title of her song, “October Rain” — an apparent reference to the Oct. 7 attack by the militant group Hamas that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and triggered the war in Gaza.
The show was typically eclectic Eurovision fare: Lithuania’s Silvester Belt was an affable young crooner, while Estonia’s 5Miinust x Puuluup offered a pop-zombie folk hybrid featuring the talharpa, a traditional stringed instrument. Greek singer Marina Satti and Armenia’s Ladaniva both merged folk song and dance elements with power pop, while Britain’s Olly Alexander offered upbeat dance track “Dizzy.”
Contenders also included the goofy 1990s nostalgia of Finland’s Windows95man, who emerged from a giant onstage egg wearing very little clothing. Ireland’s gothic Bambie Thug summoned a demon onstage and brought a scream coach to Malmo, while Spain’s Nebulossa boldly reclaimed a term used as a slur on women in “Zorra.”
Nemo had been a favorite going into the contest, alongside Baby Lasagna, whose song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” is a rollicking rock number that tackles the issue of young Croatians leaving the country in search of a better life.
Klein, the Dutch performer, was ejected from the competition after a female member of the production crew made a complaint, competition organizer the European Broadcasting Union said. The 26-year-old Dutch singer and rapper had been a favorite of both bookmakers and fans with his song “Europapa.”
Jessica Gow via Getty Images
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, said that as Klein came offstage after Thursday’s semifinal, he was filmed without his consent and in turn made a “threatening movement” toward the camera.
The broadcaster said Klein didn’t touch the camera or the camera operator, and called his expulsion “disproportionate.”
Tensions and nerves were palpable in the hours before the final. Several artists were absent from the Olympics-style artists’ entrance at the start of the final dress rehearsal, though all appeared at the final.
Powerhouse French singer Slimane cut short his ballad “Mon Amour” at the dress rehearsal to give a speech urging people to be “united by music, yes — but with love, for peace.” He did not repeat the speech during the evening final.
Several competitors made reference to peace or love at the end of their performances.
Loreen, last year’s Eurovision champion, said world events were “traumatizing,” but urged people not to shut down the “community of love” that is Eurovision.
“What heals trauma … Does trauma heal trauma? Does negativity heal negativity? It doesn’t work like that,” she told The Associated Press. “The only thing that heals trauma for real — this is science — is love.”
India and the four-European nation bloc EFTA signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) on Sunday to enhance trade and investments between the two regions, heralding a new era of economic cooperation. As a result of the trade pact, Indian customers will get access to high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices. In return, India will phase out customs duties under its trade pact with the EFTA bloc on these goods.
The pact with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland — will take up to a year to implement due to the elaborate ratification process of these agreements in different countries. Addressing the media on the signing of the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal emphasised that the “fair, equitable and mutually beneficial” agreement will unlock massive trade and investment opportunities for both sides.
The news pact is expected to help India boost its exports of pharmaceuticals, garments, chemicals and machinery while attracting investments in automobiles, food processing, railways and the financial sector. India is the EFTA’s fifth-largest trading partner after the EU, the US, Britain and China, with total two-way trade touching USD25 billion in 2023. Its exports to the EFTA touched USD2.8 billion and imports were about USD22 billion during that period. With a population of 13 million and combined GDP of more than USD1 trillion, the EFTA nations are the world’s ninth-largest merchandise trader and its fifth-largest in commercial services.
Under TEPA, India has received a foreign direct investment commitment of USD 100 billion for 15 years from the four-European nation bloc. Notably, an investment commitment of USD 50 billion has been made for the first ten years after the implementation of the agreement and another USD 50 billion over the next five years from the member countries of the bloc and to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct employment in India through such investments.
Norway’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Jan Christian Vestre, told the news agency ANI, “…It’s a day for the history books. It represents opportunities in all kinds of business sectors by providing significant investments and new jobs in India, while also bridging the gap between us.” Helene Budliger Artieda, the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs, also explained how the deal could benefit India.
“I have been told that chocolates do make (people) happy. Switzerland is a hub for some of these energy drinks. Then I also tried to signal at the press conference, that Swiss watches will also be cheaper. It’s not only consumer goods. I think, more important is what Switzerland now can provide to India at a much better cost when it comes to machinery, precision tools, and so on. Switzerland doesn’t compete on price, we compete on quality, on innovation,” Artieda said.
#WATCH | Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Helene Budliger Artieda says, “…I have been told that chocolates do make happy…Switzerland is a hub for some of these energy drinks. Then I also tried to signal at the press conference, that Swiss watches will also be… pic.twitter.com/GzXrcvxMMS— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2024
India has allowed tariff concession to several products imported from Switzerland under the agreement, according to an analysis of the TEPA documents by economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). “India will soon have access to high-quality Swiss products at lower prices because it has decided to remove tariffs on many Swiss goods over seven to ten years,” GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava was quoted as saying by PTI.
Key categories of these goods include seafood like tuna and salmon; fruits such as olives and avocados; coffee capsules; different oils like cod liver and olive oil, a variety of sweets and processed foods including chocolate and biscuits. Other products that are covered are smartphones, bicycle parts, medical equipment, clocks, watches, medicines, dyes, textiles, apparel, iron and steel products, and machinery equipment. Srivastava said tariffs on cut and polished diamonds will be reduced from 5 percent to 2.5 percent in five years after the implementation of the agreement.
India has offered no effective tariff concessions on gold. On paper, it has offered a one percent concession on the bound rate of 40 percent, but the effective duty remains at 15 percent, resulting in no real benefit. For wines, it said duty concessions are similar to those given to Australia, with no concessions for wines costing less than USD 5. “Wines priced between USD 5 and less than USD 15 will see a duty reduction from 150 percent to 100 percent in the first year, then decreasing gradually to 50 percent over 10 years,” Srivastava was quoted as saying by PTI. For wines costing USD 15 or more, he said, the initial duty cut is from 150 percent to 75 percent, eventually reducing to 25 percent after 10 years. India-EFTA two-way trade was USD 18.65 billion in 2022-23 as compared to USD 27.23 billion in 2021-22.
Switzerland is the largest trading partner of India followed by Norway. Switzerland is considered one of the world’s most innovative economies. It had been consistently ranked number one in the Global Innovation Index. The bilateral trade between India and Switzerland stood at USD 17.14 billion (USD 1.34 billion exports and USD 15.79 billion imports) in the last fiscal. In 2022-23, India’s trade deficit with Switzerland was USD 14.45 billion.
Major exports from India include chemicals, gems and jewellery, shops and boats, machinery, certain types of textiles and apparel. Switzerland is the largest source of gold imports for India, with about 41 percent share during April-October this fiscal, followed by the UAE and South Africa. The precious metal accounts for over 5 percent of the country’s total imports. Switzerland has some of the major pharma firms in the world including Novartis and Roche. Both firms have a presence in India. The two-way trade between India and Norway was USD 1.5 billion in 2022-23.
Under free trade pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them, besides easing norms to promote trade in services and investments. India has received about USD 10 billion of foreign direct investments (FDI) from Switzerland between April 2000 and December 2023. It is the 12th largest investor in India. The FDI inflow was USD 721.52 million from Norway, USD 29.26 million from Iceland and USD 105.22 million from Liechtenstein during the period.
(With agency inputs)
Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach of Ireland, discusses Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s recent visit to the country, access to finance in Europe, and his outlook for how AI will impact the jobs market.
The strength or weakness of the ad market depends on where you look — and Big Tech will continue to dominate in 2024, according to S4 Capital co-founder Martin Sorrell.
“It’s a bifurcated market. Linear TV is having a very tough time,” he told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
Players in that space with live sports to support them, like Fox and Disney, saw narrower losses in ad revenue than those that didn’t, Sorrell said.
“On the other side, the platforms are up about 10%. Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, all did, you know, 20%, 12%, 25% in Q3, and had very strong first and second quarters,” he continued.
Platforms continue to deliver better short-term activation, performance and measurement, he noted. Meanwhile, big companies are continuing to spend and invest despite macro headwinds, but they are spending in a more short-term, activation-focused, performance-focused way, he said.
“And that’s what’s going to happen this year too. I mean, linear TV is going to be under pressure … the linear TV market is in what I would call a consolidation phase.”
Sorrell pointed to Disney CEO Bob Iger telling CNBC in mid-2023 that the company was “open minded” on its continued ownership of networks such as ABC, FX and National Geographic, and had to “be objective about the future of those businesses.”
“The problem there is as they consolidate, when you actually do the numbers … net revenue and EBITDA actually increased from linear TV, which is not the direction in which you want to go, you want to increase your digital exposure to streaming and everything else,” Sorrell said.
—Jenni Reid
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said he’s seen no change in tone from the U.S. administration when it comes to how they want Ukraine to approach the war and diplomacy.
“I have no reasons to doubt the sincerity of the commitments of the Biden administration to continue helping Ukraine,” he told CNBC.
“Nor do I have reasons to believe that the Republican Party as a whole does not realize how fundamental it is to defeat Russia in Ukraine and not to allow Russia to continue destroying the world order built by America,” he said.
“I mean let’s be honest, the word we live in was built under American leadership.”
The U.S. administration has recently stepped up the pressure on Congress to provide billions more in aid to Kyiv in its war with Russia.
—Matt Clinch
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba gestures during a discussion at the World Economic Forum 2022 (WEF) in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland May 25, 2022.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters
Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told CNBC at Davos that the event had been very reassuring.
“The atmosphere here was positive in a way that people are looking for solutions instead of endlessly discussing problems,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.
“President Zelenskyy had excellent meetings with both political leadership and business leaders. And messages that were received from both wings are very encouraging.”
“The most important thing is that you feel, you sense, and you hear the commitment, the commitment to stand by Ukraine, to keep helping one way or another,” he added.
The war in Ukraine is dominating conversations at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy making the most of the opportunity to address the global business and political elite, including JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon.
Dimon said he and other business leaders met Zelenskyy on Tuesday to discuss “refinancing” the redevelopment of Ukraine once the war with Russia is over. “So, he is starting to think ahead,” Dimon said of the Ukrainian president.
—Matt Clinch
U.S. business leaders seem nonplussed about the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, while their European counterparts appear nervous, according to executives who spoke to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
One prominent U.S. business executive, who asked not to be named because his discussions with foreign leaders were private, said some of the fear may be due to a lack of understanding of the checks and balances built into the U.S. government.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S., January 17, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
“I’m not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are,” that person said. “We have a justice system. Congress will probably be divided. It’s right to be cautious, but it won’t be the end of the world.”
“He’s going to win the presidency,” a U.S. bank CEO predicted. “Many of his policies were right.”
— Lucy Handley
Euro area nations should roll back energy support packages and coordinate to reduce borrowing over the next year and a half, Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe told CNBC.
The Eurogroup, which comprises finance ministers of euro zone member states, has committed to a restrictive stance for 2024.
“That means as we phase out energy support measures, they need to go into lower levels of borrowing, and not other forms of spending or tax reduction,” Donohoe said.
Last year, the euro area deficit was above 3%, and this year it is expected to be below 3%, leading to average debt levels around 90% of national income, he noted.
“Reducing borrowing across every country, of course it’s always complex with the political and social challenges we face, but we’ve a better chance of pulling it off in the majority of countries if all countries feel we’re going in the right direction and the same direction, and this is what Eurogroup is focusing on at the moment,” he said.
The group’s second task is to “find a way of financing the huge investments that are to come, that are not entirely out of the European taxpayer, and that involves working with the private sector,” he added.
— Jenni Reid
Saudi Arabia predicts a budget deficit in 2024. Asked about whether the kingdom would tap debt markets to finance it, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan replied: “The short answer is yes.”
“We announced our debt strategy and the schedule for this year just to give the market predictability. And we’ll continue … we are going to tap the markets locally and internationally,” the minister told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.
“We are not in a position where we are desperate to borrow but as long as the market situation is supporting that with reasonable yields, we will go into the market and we may borrow even more to manage our liabilities for future use,” Al Jadaan said.
The world’s largest oil exporter in early January approved a borrowing plan for the year that forecast $23 billion in financing needs for 2024.
— Natasha Turak
Saudi Arabia’s economy is growing at a robust pace, boosted by non-oil growth in particular, the kingdom’s minister of economy and planning said on Thursday.
“When we look at the important part of the Saudi economy, it’s the non-oil economy, the various sectors; and those have continued to grow at a very healthy pace,” Faisal Alibrahim told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.
“In 2022. Saudi Arabia registered 8.7% composite growth, but non-oil economy was growing at 6%. The first three quarters of ’23 for which I have data, it’s well above 4% for the non oil economy. So we believe that’s going to be continued,” the minister said.
“We continue to invest, we continue to spend, there’s continued growth and travel and tourism into the kingdom. The Saudi consumer spends in a very healthy way so all of the components of the economy are healthy in the kingdom, healthy in the GCC. There is no reason for us to be to be concerned about it.”
— Natasha Turak
Mark Carney, the United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance, told CNBC that he believed sustainability “hasn’t slipped down the agenda of investors.”
The former governor of the Bank of England said that investment in clean energy grew by 50% in 2023 to $1.8 trillion, up from $1.2 trillion in 2022, adding that this represented almost twice as much investment as in conventional energy.
“There’s a huge surge in investment in clean energy, in EVs, [electric vehicles] in the whole supply chain,” Carney said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Carney also discussed the impact of recent climate policy changes, such as those announced by the U.K. “Anything that was done in the United Kingdom, or in the United States, Canada, elsewhere really over the course of the last year in terms of climate policy was absolutely dwarfed by the decisions that were taken at COP28 in Dubai,” he said.
“The direction is clear and the order of magnitude of what’s been decided in recent months is enormous,” Carney said.
— Vicky McKeever
Alex Karp, CEO and co-founder of data software company Palantir, discussed a visit to Israel he made with the company’s board earlier this month.
“With Israel, most people in positions of authority realize that what happened on October 7 was one of the worst terror attacks the West has ever seen,” he told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
“It is incumbent on us [as leaders] to actually not only to speak loudly in private but occasionally show what we mean in public,” he added.
“Antisemitism as a kind of prejudice has always been the canary in the coalmine for [people saying] ‘your society isn’t working, your university isn’t working, you’re not providing real growth to your population.’ And because you’re not explaining why it doesn’t work you just go blame the Jews,” he said.
— Lucy Handley
The Kremlin said its interest in the World Economic Forum has waned in recent years, after its participation in the event ended following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Our business has not participated in Davos for several years. Therefore, our interest in this forum has decreased,” the Kremlin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told CNBC in emailed comments Thursday.
Russian officials, organizations and business leaders flocked to Davos in the years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hoping to attract investment into the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin last made a keynote speech to WEF in 2021 when the event was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the virtual World Economic Forum via a video link from Moscow on January 27, 2021. (Photo by Mikhail KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Mikhail Klimentyev | Afp | Getty Images
Since Feb. 2022, however, almost 2,000 Russian individuals and entities linked to the Kremlin, or deemed to be undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, have been sanctioned and subject to asset freezes and travel bans by the EU and Ukraine’s other Western allies, including Switzerland.
Among the 2024 list of public figures attending WEF, there are none from Russia.
When asked if Moscow had followed a keynote address made by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday, Peskov replied: “We always closely monitor statements from Kyiv.”
— Holly Ellyatt
Participants walk in the street of the Alpine resort of Davos during the World Economic Forum.
Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images
China is courting the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with a delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang that thought to be the largest since 2017, when President Xi Jinping brought an 80-strong cohort.
“Choosing investment in the Chinese market is not a risk, but an opportunity,” Li said in address to delegates on Tuesday, before meeting the CEOs of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Standard Chartered and Blackstone, alongside the governor of the People’s Bank of China.
Outside the main congress center, one group of Chinese delegates that CNBC spoke to said they were attending for a broad brush of reasons, including “finance and trade and commerce.”
— Lucy Handley
Jo Taylor, CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, raised concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) could cause inequality to rise, speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In a report that Taylor wrote for WEF about navigating this “new world,” the rapid rise of AI was highlighted as a key theme.
He told CNBC that there is “absolute justification to say AI will be transformational,” and that everyone needs to consider how it will affect them.
One question around AI, Taylor said, was whether it would “increase inequality in different countries rather than improve the lot for many people across the board.”
Generative AI has been a key topic among delegates at Davos.
— Vicky McKeever
Marc Benioff, co-founder, chairman and CEO Salesforce, speaking with CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 17th, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
The tech industry is setting down safety protocols and establishing trust principles in relation to the developing AI software that has taken the world by storm to avoid a “Hiroshima moment,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told a World Economic Forum panel in Davos, Switzerland.
“This is a huge moment for AI. AI took a huge leap forward in the last year or two years,” he noted, acknowledging that, amid the rapid pace of its progress, the technology “could go really wrong.”
Concerns have mounted over the trustworthiness and uses of AI, with critics worldwide raising questions over the software coming to replace human workers. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund released a report that warned that nearly 40% of jobs across the globe could be impacted by the rise of artificial intelligence.
“We don’t want something to go really wrong. That’s why we’re going to, like, that safety summit. That’s why we’re talking about trust,” Benioff said Thursday. “We don’t want to have a Hiroshima moment. We’ve seen technology go really wrong, and we saw a Hiroshima. We don’t want to see an AI Hiroshima. We want to make sure that we’ve got our head around this now.”
Salesforce has skin in the game after launching its own generative AI software Einstein GPT and joining a global race among software developers to incorporate generative AI capabilities into their existing products.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), told CNBC that attacks on vessels in the Red Sea had made the body “slightly less optimistic” on its goods trade forecast for 2024.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia group, have been attacking vessels in the region since November, causing many ships to re-route.
“The fact that container shipping has had to divert and the higher costs are weighing on our sentiment with respect to what will happen with goods trade this year,” she said, speaking at the World Trade Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In October, the WTO projected 3.3% trade growth for this year, up from an expected growth of 0.8% in 2023.
Okonjo-Iweala said the “prospect of maybe a wider spread of the conflict is also very concerning.” She added that the downgrading of global GDP (gross domestic product) forecasts also impacted trade because it “hits aggregate demand all around.”
Despite the disruption in the Red Sea, Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO still expected trade growth numbers to be better this year than in 2023.
— Vicky McKeever
Israeli President Isaac Herzog gestures as he sits next to a photograph showing 10-month-old baby Kfir Bibas held by Hamas during a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos on January 18, 2024.
Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images
Normalizing relations with Middle East heavyweight Saudi Arabia is pivotal for Israel to transition from the current war against Palestinian militant group Hamas toward new opportunities, Israel’s president said.
“Clearly, the Saudi option, as part of it, of the whole normalization process is key to the ability to exit from the war into a new horizon,” Isaac Herzog said in a special address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s still delicate, it’s fragile, it will take a long time, but I think it’s actually an opportunity to move forward in the region toward a better future. I view that as a very important development.”
He went on to describe normalization with Saudi Arabia — a step that has been heavily encouraged by the U.S. in a bid to reunite its two strong allies in the Middle East — as a “game-changer,” saying that Riyadh’s steps to recognize Israel would follow on “the courage of nations, such as Egypt, Jordan and the Abraham Accords nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, the kingdom of Morocco, and the kingdom of Bahrain.”
Saudi Arabia has so far withheld its approval from normalizing relations and has historically aligned itself with the interests of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had indicated to the U.N. that his country was “at the cusp” of a breakthrough leading to a peace deal with Riyadh in September last year, a mere two weeks before the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks plunged Israel into war. Saudi Arabia has since called for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is carrying out a retaliatory offensive.
In January, Saudi ambassador to the U.K., Prince Khalid bin Bandar, told the BBC that his country remains interested in normalizing ties with Israel after the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, but stressed that any agreement hinges on the creation of a Palestinian state.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Israelis want certainty over their future safety, said Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.
“If you ask an average Israeli now about his mental or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements, because everybody wants to know: Can we be promised real safety in the future?” he said, speaking in an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Every Israeli wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north, or south, or east,” he added, referring to the attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
— Lucy Handley
Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned that Israel is holding back threats in the Middle East that would otherwise spread to menace Europe and the United States.
Addressing Israel’s ongoing war against Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanese faction Hezbollah, he said, “If Israel were not there, Europe would be next … and the United States is next too.”
Herzog was speaking in an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We are fighting a war for the entire universe, for the free world,” he added, also referencing the threat of Lebanese militant faction Hezbollah, which has been engaging in offensives with Israel since the start of the conflict, citing solidarity with the civilians of the Gaza Strip.
He also acknowledged the naval dangers in the Red Sea posed by Yemeni Houthi, saying that Israel is “unraveling a huge system of evil.”
— Ruxandra Iordache
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called for the release of the 136 hostages held by Hamas.
Addressing delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Herzog spoke of a baby boy, Kfir Bibas, who turned one year-old on Thursday while kidnapped by Hamas.
“Here, on this incredible world stage, I call on the entire universe to free Kfir Bibas and all the hostages that are there,” he said, sitting next to a photograph of the baby.
“Our world was shattered on [the] 7th [of] October, we were celebrating a Jewish holiday … we were awakened into a huge shock,” Herzog said, describing Hamas’s attack against Israel last year.
— Lucy Handley
European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said the organization must “adjust how we are supporting our businesses in Europe” by smoothening the process of granting permits, among other measures.
Asked how Europe will respond to competition from the U.S and China — the U.S. has invested billions of dollars into climate change technology and infrastructure, while China’s BYD has become the world’s top electric vehicle (EV) maker — Sefcovic said that the Commission is “ready to fight” for European businesses.
“We want you to prosper in Europe, because we have a lot to offer, we just have to be much faster, we have to be better at scaling up. And of course we have to do our utmost to make sure that sustainability, which is a trademark feature of European economies, will have a future here in Europe,” he told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The European government and national governments must provide a “one-stop shop” to support businesses financially, Sefcovic added.
— Lucy Handley
Belén Garijo, CEO of the multinational science and technology company Merck KGaA, says innovation is key to economic growth and prosperity and at this time “I believe Europe is lagging behind.”
Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, discusses how elections throughout the world in 2024 might affect climate policy and what needs to be done to speed up the energy transition.
Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said he is “very optimistic” about the outlook for the U.K. economy, speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I think the U.K. consumer is in very decent shape … These pent-up savings have been getting eroded. On the other hand, it’s a floating rate mortgage market, and a lot of the mortgage adjustment has happened, because the average term is about three years fixed and we’ve had about three years of rising rates,” he said.
The typical products on offer to U.K. consumers are two-year and five-year mortgages.
“Energy prices have calmed down. So the two things that have hit the pocket book are coming down, and I will say I’m very optimistic on the U.K.,” he added.
— Lucy Handley
Companies touting their artificial intelligence products dominated the Promenade, the main road in Davos. In past years at the World Economic Forum annual meeting, cryptocurrency firms were the most prominent down the Promenade. But AI fever has taken over in 2024.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated public and private discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Accuracy was a key topic for technology leaders, with Intel‘s CEO Patrick Gelsinger telling CNBC: “How do you prove that a large language model is actually right? There’s a lot of errors today. So you still need, you know, essentially, I’m improving the productivity of a knowledge worker. But, at the end of the day, I need the knowledge worker to say is it right.”
The best way to improve accuracy is through experimentation and co-piloting tests to advance adoption, said Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI.
“You can tell the AI to be conservative for higher stakes until a human co-pilot essentially graduates it to autopilot,” Shih said.
— Lucy Handley
France’s President Emmanuel Macron delivers remarks, during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2024.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
Europe must be more assertive on the world stage, according to French President Emmanuel Macron who spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
“2024 will be a pivotal year for Europeans. We must prove that we can be more visible, make more efforts, whatever happens in the United States,” he said at the event, according to a translation.
Macron also voiced concern about what the outcome of the year-end presidential election could mean for existing tensions between the U.S. and China.
“The great risk for Europeans is that they would end up with the wrong agenda,” he said.
— Lucy Handley
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told CNBC that centrist political parties need to better articulate their position on key issues.
“I think the centrist parties, like my party, right of center, have to be more successful — me myself, my party — to explain we are there for the economy, we are there for collective safety,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He added that this means “you need strong nation states but also strong multilateral organizations, and the more right-wing parties are successfully challenging particularly that multilateral world order.”
Mark Rutte has served as Netherlands’ prime minister since 2010. However, a general election in November saw Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party secure a decisive victory, with talks underway to form a new coalition government.
— Vicky McKeever
China and Switzerland agreed on Monday to speed up talks to upgrade their free trade agreement and to simplify visa procedures for travel between the two countries, Chinese state media reported.
Bern and Beijing agreed to an early launch of formal negotiations to expand a free trade agreement in place since 2013, state news agency Xinhua reported.
China also agreed to provide visa-free entry for Swiss citizens, it said.
The agreements were reached during the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Heading the Chinese delegation was Prime Minister Li Qiang, who was met by Swiss President and Defence Minister Viola Amherd when he arrived at Zurich airport on Sunday.
And he was granted military honours as Monday’s meeting kicked off at the Lohn Estate near Bern — a rare, high-level welcome rolled out for the highest-ranking Chinese representative to visit Switzerland since President Xi Jinping’s visit in 2017.
Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin also took part in Monday’s talks, as did Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, the governor of the Peoples Bank of China and high-ranking representatives from other ministries, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.
The Swiss government said in a statement that the two sides “discussed the deep and wide-ranging bilateral relations characterised by dialogue on around 30 issues, as well as a range of current international affairs”.
The two countries also discussed the planned resumption this year of dialogue between their foreign ministries, due to touch on issues including development cooperation and human rights.
China has been Switzerland’s most important trading partner in Asia since 2010 and is its third most important trading partner globally, after the European Union and the United States.
The two sides signed a joint declaration following a study on how to further develop their free trade agreement, Bern said, hailing this as “an important step towards the start of possible negotiations”.
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are set to cast a long shadow over the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.
Global business and political leaders and officials are expected to focus on the ongoing fighting in Ukraine as it approaches its second anniversary and a political resolution seems a distant prospect.
A fireman is carrying a stretcher for the injured following the rocket attack on a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on January 10, 2024. In the evening of January 10th, Russia launched a missile attack on Kharkiv. Rockets struck a local hotel, resulting in at least 10 injuries, including foreign journalists. (Photo by Pavlo Pakhomenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
“Rebuilding Trust” is the main theme of the 54th annual economic forum that runs from Jan. 15-19. Aside from war, global trade, inflation, supply chains and technological change are expected to be high on the agenda.
Perhaps the most heavyweight political figures set to be in attendance are China’s second-in-command Li Qiang and French President Emmanuel Macron, who will both give special addresses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his delegation will also be in attendance, trying to galvanize support for the country at a time when the outlook for ongoing international aid is looking shaky.
Ukraine has opened “Ukraine House Davos” at WEF and will be presenting speakers and events aimed at maintaining a spotlight on the war and Kyiv’s needs.
— Holly Ellyatt
The United Nations and its partners on Monday appealed for a combined $4.2 billion from donors to support war-ravaged communities in Ukraine as well as Ukrainian refugees in 2024.
“Hundreds of thousands of children live in communities on the front lines of the war, terrified, traumatized and deprived of their basic needs,” said U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths.
“That fact alone should compel us to do everything we can to bring more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that more than 14.6 million people, or 40% of Ukraine’s population, will need humanitarian assistance this year due to Russia’s full-scale invasion.
More than 3.3 million of the people in need live in front-line communities in the east and the south of the country, including in territories occupied by Russia, access to which remains “significantly impeded”, according to OCHA.
As part of the appeal, OCHA is asking for $3.1 billion to help 8.5 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid in 2024. The U.N. refugee agency is seeking $1.1 billion to support 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees and their host communities.
Refugees fleeing the Ukraine war passing through Lviv on their way to Poland.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Russia’s invasion, launched in February 2022, has forced some 6.3 million people to flee abroad. Four million people, including nearly one million children, remain displaced within the country, according to OCHA.
“Host countries continue to extend protection and include them in society, but many vulnerable refugees still need help,” said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
“They shouldn’t feel pressed to return because they cannot make ends meet in exile.”
— Reuters
Political and military experts stress that most wars end with some kind of diplomacy and negotiations — and an eventual political solution, whether the participants like it or not. But neither Russia nor Ukraine seems to be at a point where a political resolution is palatable.
This is especially true while Ukraine continues to receive international military aid and fighting remains intense in the south and east of the country, where Russian units are deeply entrenched, preventing Ukraine’s forces from making significant advances, but also hampering Russian attempts to advance.
“You never want to go to the negotiation table without having the upper hand in a conflict,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Twitty, former deputy commander of the U.S. European Command, told CNBC.
“Because if you go with the upper hand, you’re able to dictate and control what comes out of the negotiations. In this case, neither side has the upper hand.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual press conference in Moscow, Russia December 14, 2023.
Alexander Zemlianichenko | Reuters
Sam Cranny-Evans, defense analyst at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told CNBC that “the challenge for Ukraine is to make it seem like Russia cannot achieve its aims militarily and so it comes to any negotiations, if and when they happen, from a position of relative strength.”
″[But] if Putin feels like the Russian armed forces can still deliver the political goals that he’s set, then there’s not a lot of impetus to negotiate, or the mindset that he’ll come to negotiations with will be very hard.”
Read more on the story here: Ukraine and Russia say they want the war to end. But military and political experts say they’re nowhere near peace talks
— Holly Ellyatt
14 January 2024, Switzerland, Davos: Mirek Dusek (l-r), WEF Director, Denys Malyuska, Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Rustem Umyerev, Minister of Defense of Ukraine, and Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, take part in a press conference during the fourth meeting of the National Security Advisors (NSA) on the Ukraine Peace Formula. One day before the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Ukraine and Switzerland are organizing the 4th Ukraine Peace Formula Conference there. Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa (Photo by Hannes P Albert/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia, Ukraine’s top representative said after a high-level diplomatic meeting ahead of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Sunday it was important that Russian ally China was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on its peace formula.
Zelenskyy is due to arrive in Bern, Switzerland on Monday to meet the President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd.
Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, who attended Sunday’s discussions, told an earlier news conference: “We must do everything to end this war.”
“China plays a significant role. We must find ways to work with China on this,” Cassis said, adding that both Russia and Ukraine were not willing to make concessions.
Zelenskyy is also likely to meet JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon at Davos this week as he tries to seek support to shore up funds for Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg News first reported about Zelenskyy’s plans to meet Dimon.
— Reuters
