WEF/Annual Meeting/2001
Davos, Switzerland
<- | |
|---|---|
| File:Schwab Putin.png | |
| Date | 21 January 2001 - 25 January 2001 |
| Location | Davos, Switzerland |
| Description | Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2001. |
| Planners | WEF |
| Participants | Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat,Klaus Schwab,Joschka Fischer ,Vaclav Klaus,Vicente Fox,Bill Gates,Amre Moussa,Kofi Annan,Abdelilah Benkirane, Abdelilah Benkirane, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Nadine Hani, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,Quincy Jones,Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Moritz Leuenberger, John Kerry, Gro Harlem Brundtland,George Robertson,Olusegun Obasanjo, Youssou N’Dour,Peter Gabriel,Ulrich Bettermann |
The 2001 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting was held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2001.
Own words
After the efforts by President Bill Clinton in Camp David in 2000 to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, a new attempt to bring the parties back to the table was made at the Taba conference (Egypt) in January 2001.
A session in Davos with the two leaders took place on 28 January, one day after the end of the Taba talk and just nine days ahead of general elections in Israel. Just as the session started, Arafat told Schwab that, contrary to what had been originally arranged, he would prefer to speak second. Schwab asked Shimon Peres to open the session, which he did in a positive way. Then it was Arafat's turn. The Palestinian leader proceeded to deliver an aggressive attack on Israel, leaving the Davos audience stunned and destroying any hope for a peace agreement. On 6 February, Ehud Barak lost the election and hardliner Ariel Sharon came to power.[1]
Two months after 9/11, the Forum decided to relocate the 2002 Annual Meeting from Davos to New York to show solidarity with the city and Americans. This decision not only tested the adaptability and flexibility of the Forum staff to a maximum, but also required many participants to overcome their reluctance to travel.