 Mr. Bundespräsident. President of the Swiss government. Excellencies. Accordial welcome to the 43rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Again we are together, the Davos family, and I would like to ask everybody to be here for the first time just to stand up for one moment. Please welcome the newcomers to our community. Davos is different. Why? First we are here a true multi-stakeholder community. Leaders from all walks of life. Political leaders, the heads of international organizations, business leaders, NGO leaders, trade union leaders, the young people whom we have integrated, women leaders, the media, social entrepreneurs, and I could go on. So there's another characteristic for this annual meeting. It's a comprehensive meeting. It's not like others who are devoted to one specific subject. What we want to do is to look at the beginning of this year, at the global agenda in a truly integrated way. To see what the priorities are and to look for solutions. It's also a very interactive meeting. 1,400 people here in this hall have an active role during the next four or five days. And finally it's a meeting where no decisions are taken. But it's a laboratory for new ideas, a launching pad for initiatives, and again we will see the next days a number of new initiatives launched. And of course it's a platform for interaction and dialogue. I have three expectations. Three wishes as far as the outcome of this meeting is concerned. The first wish is encapsulated into the theme of the annual meeting. Resilient dynamism. You remember when we have been assembled here the last years, we just discussed about the crisis and we were all absorbed by crisis management. I think the time has come to look at the future with a great vision, with a constructive optimism. But on the other hand, the risks have not gone away. But we should not wait until the risks, until we are close to falling off the cliff. What we should do, we should develop the necessary resilience to deal with those risks in time. The second wish which I have is that we go away here and we are again global trustees, trustees of our common global future. I think the past has shown with the mounting egoism of people, mounting nationalism of countries that our global cooperation mechanism are more disintegrating instead of integrating. And I have finally a last wish. The World Economic Forum has been very active in reminding us that as leaders in business or wherever we are, we have to serve society and we have a tremendous social responsibility. But we have to add to this social responsibility another dimension. We have to add moral responsibility without a basic moral consensus on a global level and actions based on a global consensus on morality. I think humankind cannot survive. I have now the pleasure to introduce our host, Mr. Federal President Pauli Maurer. A warm welcome to you here amongst us here at this annual meeting in Davos. President Maurer has been in politics for nearly as long as I've been at the World Economic Forum. He's been a municipal councillor, national councillor, party chairman, federal councillor and now president of the Swiss government. Pauli Maurer is also the head of the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports. So he is the man who is protecting us and our participants here in Davos. And for this invaluable contribution to our event, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. President. But I would like to include all our hosts in these thanks, the federal councillor, all the federal councillor, myocraft and the state councillor, Filippo Lombardi, as the representative of the two chambers of the Swiss parliament, the Lohan and the Upper House. Our thanks also go to the canton of Guarbunden, represented by Elita Florin Karim and the president of the government, Hans-Jörg Truxel. Lastly, a great thanks to the mayor of Davos, Mr. Cavietzo. May I also add our thanks to the population of Davos. Ladies and gentlemen, please greet the president of the Swiss government, Mr. Ueli Maurer. Dear Professor Schwab, Welcome to Switzerland, welcome to Davos. I would like to welcome you in each of our four national languages. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Davos. I would like to thank you for your visit and I wish you all a good time and good fun. Welcome to Davos, in this splendid Alpine landscape. Thank you for the visit and I hope you will enjoy the day. Welcome to Davos and in its magnificent screen of the Alps. I would like to thank you for your visit and I hope you will enjoy the day. And finally, welcome to Davos, in this wonderful mountain world. We wish you all a good time and good fun in the mountains. You can see from the various national languages just how diverse Switzerland is. This diversity is what gives the countries its cultural wealth. And it's also enriches our society and shapes our politics. That is why Switzerland is a federal state with 26 cantons. All could perhaps think that to have 26 small states in an area as small as Switzerland is not terrible efficient. However, for our country, this diversity has proven to be a blessing. It is also the reason for the resilient dynamic of the Swiss economy as diversity stimulates competition. That is not only the case in business but also in politics. Competition exists between the commons and between the cantons. Local competition exists within our own borders. This leads to good infrastructures, to restraint in creating red tape and to low taxes. And individuals benefit just as much from all of this as business. In addition to federalism, we have a system of direct democracy. The people determine how high taxes should be. This helps to keep tax burden and the comparatively low level. And because politicians cannot always be trusted where spending is concerned, we have a debt break in court in our constitution. This requires us to balance out revenue and expenditure. Competition, economy as well as between locations, viying diversity, a liberal system and direct democracy, these are Switzerland's recipes for success. You may be wondering why I am speaking about Switzerland at an international forum. It is because I believe in diversity and it is because I believe in competition. Both within states and between them. Progress and prosperity are not only achieved through competition in the private sector, but also through competition among systems of government and business locations. But this is not always the case. Competition is a hard work. Improving a country economic framework is a tough political challenge. Large states in particular can be tempted to furgo such efforts, choosing instead to place pressure on smaller competitors, thereby forcing them to adjust their own framework for the worse. The fact that Switzerland is in good economic shape in international comparison is due in no small part to our liberal system of government. I ask myself if it wouldn't be better if other states were to draw inspiration from this success rather than criticize our system. It is somewhat worrying when powerful states exert pressure on small but successful competitors. The result is the competition. The catalyst of progress is different. Ultimately, everyone suffers a decline in prosperity. Even large states only benefit temporarily. For when there is a lack of competition among systems and locations, states become increasingly sluggish until the last will to reform faders. I firmly believe that the resilient dynamism to which this year's annual meeting is dedicated cannot be achieved without peaceful competition between business locations. I hope the exchanges you have here at this annual meeting are inspiring and engaging and that in between obsessions and discussions you are able to find a moment to take in the wonderful mountain landscape. I hope you have a good time here in Davos and I look forward to welcoming you again in Switzerland. Thank you.