 a very cordial welcome to the annual meeting, to the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. We are celebrating the 50th birthday, but much more important is that we are celebrating 50 years of engagement for the stakeholder responsibility. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to welcome His Eminence Cardinal Turksen, prefect of the Dicastry for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Vatican City-State, with a special message from His Holiness Pope Francis. Your Eminence, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to Davos. The stage is yours. This is to Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. As the World Economic Forum celebrates its 50th anniversary, I send greetings and prayerful good wishes to all taking part in this year's gathering. I thank you for your invitation to participate and have asked Cardinal Peter Turksen, prefect of the Dicastry for Promoting Integral Human Development, to attend as our representative. In these years, the World Economic Forum has offered an opportunity for the engagement of diverse stakeholders to explore innovative and effective ways of building a better world. It has also provided an arena where political will and mutual cooperation can be guided and strengthened in overcoming the isolationism, individualism, and ideological colonization that sadly characterizes too much contemporary debate. In light of the ever-growing and interrelated challenges affecting our world, the theme you have chosen to consider this year, namely stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world, points to the need for a greater engagement at all levels in order to address more effectively their diverse issues facing humanity. Over the past five decades, we've witnessed your political transformations and significant changes, from the economy and labor markets to digital technology and the environment. Many of these developments have benefited humanity, while others have had adverse effects and created significant development lacunae. Today's challenges are not the same as those of half a century ago. A number of features remain relevant as we begin a new decade. The overriding consideration never to be forgotten is that we are all members of the one human family. The moral obligation to care for one another flows from this fact, as does the correlative principle of placing the human person rather than the mere pursuit of power or profit at the very center of public policy. This duty, moreover, is incumbent upon business sectors and governments alike and is indispensable in the search for equitable solutions to the challenges we face. As a result, it is necessary to move beyond short-term technological or economic approaches and to give full consideration to the ethical dimension in seeking resolutions to present problems or proposing initiatives for the future. All too often, materialistic and utilitarian visions, sometimes hidden, sometimes celebrated, lead to practices and structures motivated largely or even solely by self-interest. This typical view orders as a means to an end and entail a lack of solidarity and charity which, in turn, gives rise to real injustice. And so, whereas a truly integral human development can only flourish when all members of the human family are included in and contribute to pursuing the common good. In seeking genuine progress, let us not forget that to trample upon the dignity of one another, person is in fact to weaken one's own worth. In my encyclical letter called Laudato Si, I drew attention to the importance of an integral ecology that takes into account the full implications of the complexity and interconnectedness of our common home. Such a renewed and integrated ethical approach calls for humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision. And so in acknowledging the achievements of the past 50 years, it is my hope that the participants in today's forum and those to be held in the future will keep in mind the high moral responsibility each of us has to seek the interests and integral development of all our brothers and sisters, including those of future generations. May your deliberations lead to a growth in solidarity, especially with those most in need, who experience social and economic injustice and whose very existence is even threatened. And so to those taking part in the forum, I renew my prayer for good wishes for a fruitful meeting, and I invoke upon all of you God's blessings of wisdom, given from the Vatican on the first 15th day of January, 2050, and signed by Pope Francis. Thank you. Thank you, Your Eminence, for this inspiring message. And now please welcome Simonetta Samaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation and Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. Your Royal Highnesses, President Simonetta Samaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation, Distinguished Heads of State and Government, Your Excellencies, Dear Members and Partners of the World Economic Forum, Dear Friends, a very cordial welcome to the annual meeting, to the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. We are celebrating the 50th birthday, but much more important is that we are celebrating 50 years of engagement for the stakeholder responsibility. A summer few may know, the forum was created after I wrote a book conceptualizing the stakeholder concept. At Davos, I envisaged creating a global village, a global village, encouraging interaction between all stakeholders of global society, from governments to business, from civil society to the young people. Looking around in this plenary hall, I am proud of the community which we have created here over the years, and I am grateful for your engagement, your loyalty. You will to make it happen. Business leaders here in the room have recognized that corporations are not just economic entities, but also social organisms. But we cannot be complacent. We must give the concept of stakeholder responsibilities meaning in real life. To do so, we will be unveiling three major initiatives this week. First, during our meeting here, we want to make substantial progress on a generally accepted framework to make stakeholder responsibility measurable and so forth also credible. The so-called ESG criteria on environmental, social, and good governance performance must become an integral part of corporate auditing and reporting alongside the traditional profit and loss statement. Second, we want to show how business is walking the talk, presenting over 160 so-called lighthouse projects of our partners. They demonstrate how our partners are using their knowledge and resources to help to address society issues. The world is in a state of emergency, and the window to act is closing. We do not want to face continued political and economic disintegration. We do not want to reach the tipping point of irreversibility of climate change. And we do not want to leave behind to the next generations an ever more hostile and ever less haptic world, just think of the wildfires in Australia. So what should we do? First, the basic concept of the World Economic Forum is that all those challenges are so great that they cannot be addressed by one government, by one business, by one organization alone. We need a global platform for collaborative action. Over the last 50 years, the World Economic Forum has become a comprehensive platform for public-private cooperation, reinforced last year through a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the United Nations. One of the initiatives which we will inaugurate this week is uplink. It is an open-source digital platform that will allow all people with innovative ideas, with expertise and resources to engage behind the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we will start with oceans. Second, we want here to listen to the young and to diverse voices. So the Davos spirit means to accept and to respect different voices and to jointly look for solutions, not through polarization, but through a genuine exchange of dialogue and understanding. Every voice to be heard here in this hall has to be respected. Third, and most importantly, the annual meeting will be a do-shop, not a talk-shop. Most events taking place here have been prepared by task forces ahead of time to ensure tangible progress can be made this week. Allow me to give you some examples. The best way to foster a more cohesive and inclusive society, that's our theme, is to provide everybody with a decent job and income. Therefore, we will create here in Davos a public-private platform to provide one million people with the skills needed for the age of the forced industrial revolution. As far as more sustainable world is concerned, this meeting will serve to make green investment, mainstream, and overtime imperative. It will ensure the engagement of our partners and members to become carbon neutral. And finally, in addition to the commitment to reduce carbon emissions, the restoration of our ecosystem is a priority for the coming decade. To that end, we will launch a public-private platform for re-forestation and restoration. The aim will be to grow, restore, and conserve one billion trees, one trillion trees by 2030. I am delighted to see that many governments and companies are keen to engage as well as the Saudi Arabian G20 presidency for whom so safeguarding the planet is the name. Those are the kinds of initiatives which will spark a lasting legacy of our special anniversary here. Please engage. Dear participants, when we look around the world, we can't deny such as a general loss of trust and confidence of people. It is coupled with a profound pessimism and cynicism. But we cannot be paralyzed by those feelings, just the opposite. They must drive us to action. Change doesn't come by itself. We as global stakeholders have a responsibility to drive it and to drive it in a positive direction. So here at Davos, we have to start with the premise that each of us can help to create a better world where so we are business leaders, government leaders, NGO leaders, scientists, young people, or cultural leaders. We cannot only create a better world, we must create a better world. Look around here in this room. There is so much transformational power gazzled here. If we aggregate our goodwill and action, we can say to the next generation, you can rely on us. Ladies and gentlemen, I have now the great pleasure and honor to introduce Simoneta Somaruga, the President of the Swiss Confederation, and Federal Counselor for the Environment, Transport, Energy, and Communications. Madam President, it is actually the second time that you are here and that I have the pleasure to welcome you as an opening speaker in Davos. You have been part of the Federal Council now for 10 years since 2010. And in your New Year's address, you emphasize the importance of personal encounters in an increasingly complex digitalized world. For this, you have expressed that you want to regularly meet with people from all walks of life as we have assembled here throughout your presidential year to talk about ideas, hopes, and concerns. You also placed the preservation of nature at the center of your presidential year. Both are fundamental issues that form a core part of the Forum's heart and soul. I would like to express, particularly on the occasion of this special anniversary, my deep gratitude and support of trustees, deep gratitude to our host country. To you, Madam President, to all the other members of the Swiss Government who are here with us today, I would like to thank the Swiss Parliament, the canton of Grobinden, the municipality of Davos, and above all, the people of Switzerland, and of Davos Closers for their great hospitality. Without your support, those past 50 years would not have been possible. In the so-called spirit of Davos, we are proud that in a small way, we can reflect the best of the Swiss tradition to act as an impartial platform for dialogue committed to improving the state of the world. The Swiss Confederation has graciously offered us a wonderful book celebrating the 50 years of the existence of the World Economic Forum in pictures which you have find on your seats. Thank you, Madam President. Please warmly welcome President Simonetta Zumaruga. Dear Professor Schwab, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, the world is on fire. What the Secretary General of the United Nations said is true, and it is evident. We see the rainforest burning in the Amazon and the bushfires raging in Australia. The consequences for humans and nature are disastrous. Less evident than the fires is what this all means when the ecological balance is disrupted. What does it concretely mean for us humans and for our planet? I would like to give a voice to those who can explain to us in just two minutes what it means when plant and animal species disappear and what the consequences will be for all of us. The message of the bees is clear and indisputable. When economic interests are placed above the functioning of natural world, when insects, animals, and plants disappear, eradicated by humans, by insecticide, pesticides, and monocultures, then the consequences for humans and for the economy are dramatic. However, we do not really feel it in our everyday lives, so why should we worry about it? Because biodiversity is like the Eiffel Tower of Paris. When you remove from the Eiffel Tower one screw a day, nothing happens at first. But at some point you remove yet another single screw, and that is the one that causes the tower to fall apart. The same goes for nature, where interactions are so delicately balanced. We can no longer stand by and watch. Biodiversity and climate protection are not hobbies for idealists. They need to be addressed by politicians and by business people. We need the private sector to act on biodiversity and climate protection. We need politicians to take action in their own country and internationally to ensure that the ecological balance is restored and that global warming is stopped. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not only nature that requires balance. In international politics as well, balance is an essential factor. Today, I look at the state of the world with concern. In some regions, passions are being stirred to achieve political goals, emotions such as intolerance, hatred, prejudice and revenge. Let us not forget the lessons nature teaches us. All excess in one direction can lead to a backlash in the opposite direction. Injustice can prepare the ground for the strike back. In international politics as in the managing of our environment, the search for the right balance, the use of informed reason and consensus building are of the utmost importance. We have all made our way here to Davos to this end to find the right balance for our common future. This is possibly what those bees that you have just seen would tell us. When the world is on fire, we cannot leave the work to the firemen alone. Politicians and society have to take action. So let us make use of our time here together to engage in dialogue and to seek a balance that benefits all of us. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. We will re-assume our session in just some moments waiting for President Trump.