Davos 2024 Day 4: Some of the key moments

We heard this morning from Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the conflict in Gaza and tensions in the region. He called for the release of Israeli hostages and appealed for the ongoing support of the international community. He also said the normalization process with Israel's Arab neighbours will be "key to the ability to exit from the war into a new horizon".

His comments came after Davos heard, yesterday, from Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund. He called for more humanitarian aid to Gaza and a political solution to the conflict.

And there were calls for collaboration and cooperation in all spaces. The problems we face won't be solved by pulling one lever, Alex Liu, Managing Partner and Chairman at Kearney, told a session on good growth.

Solving global challenges also requires a broad range of voices, including from Africa, Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, stressed. "Africa has to play a pivotal role across the globe for multilateralism and in the international arena on trade, on investment, on other economic activities," he said.

Disinformation also poses a challenge to efforts to enhance global security and cooperation, as Vera Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission, told our Defending Truth session today.

We heard today about the links between geopolitics, AI and regulation in our Technology in a Turbulent World.

The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, called for 'light touch' regulation and global collaboration on AI. We need to prevent 'rogue actors' using it, he explained, but we also still don't fully understand its potential.

We also need to make sure its benefits are equally distributed, he urged. While we might not be able to predict the future, we do have agency over it.

The potential is vast though, panellists agreed, but training, skills and understanding will be essential if the global community is to take advantage. As Sam Altman, Chief Executive Officer at OpenAI, explained:

"I think AI has been somewhat demystified because people really use it now. And that's, I think, always the best way to pull the world forward with a new technology.

As Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, told us this afternoon, the public and private sectors must come together to address the concerns around AI.

There was a sense of urgency in Davos today on the need to move the energy transition forward and tackle climate change.

Our European Green Deal session explored the hurdles that remain in driving sustainability. For example, Ester Baiget, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novozymes, stressed the need to get the regulatory landscape right.

And, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Maxim Timchenko, Chief Executive Officer of DTEK Group, were optimistic about the renewable potential of both Greece and Ukraine. But, as Mitsotakis and Maros Sefcovic, Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal explained, we need to get the grid and connections right.

Financing is also a core issue. Speakers in our Decarbonizing Emerging Markets session were clear on this and the need for a range of funding sources, whether through grants or from the private sector.

We need to put the Sustainable Development Goals at the centre of how we do industrial strategy, innovation policy and financial policy, Mariana Mazzucato, Professor, University College London, told Are the Financial Risks of Climate Change Under-Priced?

"Without a free flow of trade, I don't think we can recover," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization told us today in a session exploring the role of trade and investment as a driver of economic growth. It's a two-way relationship between growth and trade, she explained.

From digital trade, services and also green trade, the panelists were clear that there are significant opportunities for investment in growth across global supply chains.

A mindset shift is needed, where trade and globalization are 'embraced politically', Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Mubadala Investment Company, told the same No Recovery without Trade and Investment session. "With economic development comes prosperity, with prosperity comes stability, with stability, ultimately, you have peace," he said.

But, as Kyriakos Mitsotakis reminded us this afternoon, geopolitical instability also poses a risk to supply chains and international trade.