 President Park, President of the Republic of Korea, distinguished heads of state, heads of governments, friends, it is a special privilege and pleasure to start our first plenary session with two extraordinary women presidents. And I think particularly your presence, Madam President, fits so well into the seam of our annual meeting in Davos, reshaping the world. You are reshaping your country. I also have to pay tribute for your outstanding focus, discipline, values. I could go on and on. You are exemplary women. And we welcome you very cordially to the Davos community. Please give a big hand to the president of the Republic of Korea. Thank you, Professor Shubab for that kind introduction. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, my warm greetings to all of you. This is an opportune occasion to speak about entrepreneurship and the creative economy. For in our post-crisis era, the global economy is charting a new course. And many of the global leaders in this audience stand at the forefront of that journey. Thanks to strong national responses coupled with close international coordination, the global economy is gradually escaping from the crisis. Yet, continuous steel experience, slow growth, high unemployment is weighing economies down. Income inequality continues to linger. Making growth sustainable is another task all of us face. As our planet eventually becomes home to 9 billion people, the need to deal with climate change and resources depletion has never been more compelling. The global financial crisis has brought these issues to the fore. But in fact, there are problems that have been with us well before the crisis. And they lay bare the limitations of our existing paradigm. We must make growth sustainable. We must make growth inclusive. But piecemeal fixes will not do. Macroeconomic policies or labor policies under existing paradigm alone will not do. What we need is nothing short of a paradigm shift. What we now need and need urgently is an engine that takes us beyond these constraints. One that transforms the existing order and helps reshape the world. Korea is seeking that engine in the creative economy. Ladies and gentlemen, today, the brilliant idea, creative thought, or new technology of a single individual can help move the world and get nations going. Since the Industrial Revolution, the wealth and happiness of nations of individuals were marked by a material divide. Recently, this has given way to a digital divide. The future will be defined by a creative divide. Whereas existing economies have focused on extracting mineral resources from the ground, creative economies seek to tap into the creativity of the human mind. We in Korea believe that the only way to solving our problems is to creatively innovate our way out. Hence, our pursuit of a creative economy vision as the new paradigm for driving our economy forward. A creative economy harnesses the creative ideas of individuals and marries them with science and technology, with IT. It promotes the convergence of different industries and the confluence of industry and culture. And along the way, it creates new markets and new jobs. Together with creativity, what is key to successfully realizing this vision is entrepreneurship. Creativity begets innovative ideas. Entrepreneurship puts innovation into action. Entrepreneurship is what translates and individuals' innovative ideas and creative potential into the courage to start a new business. We have a saying in Korea. Beads are not. Consider the jewelry unless they are woven together. Entrepreneurship is what weaves together the beats of creative ideas into new markets and into new jobs. Companies must rise to the challenge of a new era. In doing so, they shouldn't be afraid of failure. Entrepreneurial spirit in the 21st century must be indefatigable. To support the thriving of entrepreneurship barriers that stand in its way must be removed. We also need to build a financial system that supports entrepreneurship and spreads risk. A system that helps those that fail get back up. Another key task is to build a creative economy ecosystem which spurs endless research and constantly churns out new ideas and value. The government needs to support this. In most cases, it's difficult to do diligence on ideas. And building ideas from the drawing board to the marketplace involves a high degree of uncertainty. This makes it difficult for early-stage startups to raise funds, to ease this process. We must make transform how startups and venture companies finance capital away from loans and towards investment capital, including through angel investors. Financing assistance should also be tailored to be a company's evolution. Policies should include tax breaks and other steps aimed at encouraging M&As of venture companies. Where businesses fail despite honest hard work, their credit worthiness should be restored promptly so they could try again. We need a climate where entrepreneurs can learn from their failure, bounce back, and achieve success. Korea is focusing on building an ecosystem where entrepreneurship can flourish. We will use this as a platform for flashing out our vision of a creative economy. Last October, we opened a Creative Economy website. This online platform helps people with great ideas who have done creative research and have the technology, but who have quit halfway through because of difficulties in making them marketable. In the span of a few months, some 4,000 creative ideas have already been put forward. Success stories are beginning to appear as patents are filed, prototypes are produced, and funds are raised to start businesses. Here is the story of one young man. He developed an application that directly translates any word on a mobile screen and offers the user learning opportunities through a vocabulary book. After submitting the idea to the K-Startup program, he was able, with the help of mentors, to launch a cloud-based language learning application. It now supports 12 languages. In just four months, this application was downloaded 400,000 times. Today, it is growing into a venture business. Creative ideas such as these will help inject fresh vitality to creating jobs and growing the economy. They will underpin our nation's competitiveness. Starting this year, we will move offline and establish creative economy centers across Korea. Once the system is fully up and running, anyone with a great idea will be able to get mentoring from experts and start a business. Companies will not only be linked up with talented people, their competitive edge would also be enhanced through innovative ideas. To reinforce these efforts, we will set up a creative economy joint task force. This will include venture companies, SMEs, large companies, as well as the government. The private sector will be in the driver's seat and lead the creative economy. Furthermore, to facilitate startups and entrepreneurial risk-taking, we are moving to a negative list approach to regulation. We are drastically cutting red tape that stands in the way of convergence and in the way of new industries. We will cap the total volume of regulations. Regulations will be relaxed across the board, except for those that are absolutely necessary. A ministerial meeting that I, as president, will be chairing will oversee these efforts. Answers to tackling energy and environmental challenges will also be thought through the creative economy. We will develop policies to build environment-friendly energy towns as creative business models. We will try new ways to site incineration plants and landfills which local communities tend to reject. Those communities will receive real benefits in the form of clean technology, technology-based energy, energy that will come from biomass co-generation plants or energy storage systems. We will also make government information more open and accessible for the general public. This government 3.0 initiative can also serve as the connective tissue for a wide range of new businesses. For example, the Korean government made available its 3D maps, land registration maps, and other information on the nation's land space. One startup made use of that data and developed a service application that estimates the power capacity and profitability of locating solar equipment in various areas on the map. Such data and ways to use our nation's land space will be made publicly available so that anyone could easily use them and develop many different services. As a result, we expect to see some 12,000 decent jobs created by 2017. Ladies and gentlemen, wouldn't it be nice to join Korea's journey towards a creative economy? Ladies and gentlemen, I believe the creative economy needs to play an important role in the reshaping of our world, the theme of this year's forum. For it can offer new opportunities for dealing with diverse challenges that can arise during that transformation. Existing factors of production or the prerogatives of select classes or groups. In contrast, the power to imagine and think of ideas is universal to everyone. It is not conditioned by nationality, ethnicity, wealth, or education. Unlike resources, creativity is non-depletable, nor does it degrade the environment. It, therefore, unlocks opportunities for sustainable growth. Creativity is inherent to all people, regardless of age, class, race, or nationality. It, therefore, holds promise for inclusive growth. The promotion of creativity will serve as the wellspring for overcoming unbalanced growth among nations and among different classes. Every member of humanity has the potential to become key players in the success story of a creative economy. It is why I believe the creative economy can offer a path to resolving the triple pressures of slow growth, high unemployment, and income disparities. Through start-ups, as well as the innovation of existing businesses, a creative economy can generate new engines of growth and can grow jobs. There will also be less income inequality, since anyone with a great idea can leave out one's dreams by starting a business. Where there is concern and care for others, there we can see fresh ideas blossom. It is when the desire to improve the human condition to heal humanity's pain meets science and technology, the solutions are produced, the suffering is eased, that the well-being of humanity is served. Realizing the benefits and goals of a creative economy requires concerted global efforts. Climate change and environmental challenges are global in nature. As such, the world must act as one in tackling them. Solutions to these problems could be found through the imagination and entrepreneurial drive empowered by a creative economy. I also hope to see nations that are custodians of the world's cultural heritage amplify creative value through cultural sharing and heart-to-heart exchange through the creative economy. Culture has the power to connect, to connect people of different languages and different backgrounds. The world is coming closer together as economic, social, cultural, and other barriers are ebbing away. We see this happening with our own eyes. We see how the culture of one nation is no longer confined to that country alone. It is increasingly being shared and enjoyed beyond borders. We use the expression Korean Wave to describe the widespread enthusiasm for Korean culture. Today, that wave is spreading rapidly across the globe. When Korean music recently paired up with YouTube, it became a global sensation. K-pop, Korean dramas, and films are being greeted here and there and creating new added value. When the cultural values of each country are brought together with IT technology, the possibilities for generating greater added value become truly limitless. Indeed, this is another key attraction of the creative economy. The companies that are welcomed around the world are those that have successfully combined various cultural content with new technology. May this audience have to throw up ideas that enable culture to serve as a vehicle, one that brings love and joy around the world. Ladies and gentlemen, since the global economic crisis, the Washington consensus has not been regarded as sacred as it once was. The world beckons for something more, something that better meets the calling of our time. But a new consensus has yet to emerge. May this world economic forum lead to what we could call the Davos consensus, the belief in entrepreneurship as the driving force of sustainable, inclusive growth. Indeed, a gathering of global leaders such as this should aim to usher in a new era. I believe you can do so by coming up with practical guidelines toward an economic, social, political, and cultural climate that forces entrepreneurship. I hope that Korea's quest for a creative economy can also offer others a practical entrepreneurship, driven strategy for shaping a new future. Our world currently faces countless challenges. But to me, they seem no more than minor bumps on our path to a better world. The fatigable spirit of entrepreneurship can lift economies up and lift countries up. It is now up to us to rise to the challenge and not be afraid to fail. Let us set our sights on making a better world. And let us embark on this journey with tireless entrepreneurial drive and through our creative economy. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your kind attention. And, President, what you really presented to us is a roadmap which is valid for every country to enter the midst and the end of the 21st century. And I was particularly proud to listen to you because the motto of the World Economic Forum since many years is entrepreneurship in the global public interest. Because we believe entrepreneurship as you have laid out drives social progress and economic development. But it always has to be subject to the global public good. Now, I am assuming that everybody listening to you, Madam President, wants now to invest in Korea. And so I have to ask you a question which probably is in our mind. Because it's somewhere in North Korea's nuclear weapon issues stands, I would say, nearly as a stumbling block for full-fledged investment into the region and into your country. And so for in terms of economic perspectives, some people would say, let's wait until we have the reunification between North or South Korea. And some others would argue your future may be very loaded by the costs of the reunification. So I think, Madam President, we would be all interested to hear your ideas about this issue. In the Indo-Pacific region, North Korean residents are suffering from hunger and human rights violations. So reunification is a way to solve the suffering of the North Korean residents. Another economic aspect is economic area. Unification will give benefit not only to Korean peninsulas of Korea, but also surrounding countries. It will give a huge benefit. Recently, I mentioned that unification will be a great breakthrough. That was the expression that I used. When two Koreas are reunified, then there will be a dramatic SOC-centered investment being made in North Korea. In addition to that, not only into North Korea, but also countries around North Korea, like China or other countries, they will attract more investment. And also, if you go to the north eastern part of Russia, another boom of the investment will be invigorated, which means that a great growth can happen around North Korea and Northeast Asia, which means that it will provide a new engine of growth. In light of that, I believe that unification will give a great chance and breakthrough not only to South Korea and North Korea, but also to the countries around to Koreas in the Northeast Asian regions. Now regarding the future, forecasting the future, the best way to do that is we have to shape the future. There's a saying, the future can be made by the one who will actually make it, which means that instead of just sit and wait until the unification happens or arrives, we need to strive. We need to mobilize security measures, strengthen the security, and also we need to make best efforts to foster an environment where unification can be realized. And that is our efforts. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam President. Unfortunately, we have come to the end of this first part. And I think we all, Madam President, we wish you the best in the implementation of your farsighted policies. Ladies and gentlemen, please thank Madam President for her excellent remarks and having outlined such a great vision for her country and for the world. Please, please, seat it. We will start again this session in a moment. There are many special personalities here in the audience. But I would like, before I start this session, to recognize the presence of our speaker and in the opening sessions this afternoon of Prime Minister Abe among us this morning. President Johnson-Siliff, President of the Republic of Liberia, it is now my great pleasure to introduce you to the Davos audience. And actually, you don't need an introduction. Everybody knows you. I just may add you are also a noble piece laureate. And when you came in the 2000 election, the president, the 24th president of the Republic of Liberia, you were not only the first female president of your country, but the first female president and elected head of state in Africa. Throughout your career, you have demonstrated a passionate commitment to hard work, integrity, and I underline particularly good governance, advocating for the rights of women and the importance I underline of education to provide a better future for your country and its people. You have also received and revived, you have revived the national hope by strengthening institutions and good governance. Madam President, we are very eager to listen to you. Thank you so much, Professor Schruher. Distinguished Excellencies, heads of states and government ministers, co-chairs of the 2014 World Economic Forum, leaders of business, academia, media, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. Professor Scharbaum, glad to be back in Davos, having missed several years because of the cold. It's an honor to be a part of this forum, an organization, and an event whose commitment is to improve the state of the world and whose reputation since its founding in 1971 has been second to none in all that it has achieved, not only in the economic sphere, but also politically, socially, and globally. I cannot think of a more topical theme and particularly the focus on the essential activities that will tackle unemployment, especially youth unemployment, which is one of the major challenges of today. It is complex, it is structural, it is global. It is complex because the drivers of this condition differ across the developed and developing world, across gender, across region, across age, across social status, and across ethnicity. It is structural because institutions and systems, particularly in developing countries, have not been able to respond to global technological shifts. It is global because developed countries normally sheltered by strong, diversified economies and developed institutions now face the same situation as they try to deal with the changes of a reshaping world. Many may recall that in formulating the Millennium Development Goals in the year 2000, the Silver Society Forum identified youth unemployment as a major challenge of development, particularly for developing countries with high population growth. 13 years later, the proposed post-2015 development agenda confirms youth unemployment as an emerging crisis worldwide. The genesis of the crisis can in part be traced to the 2008 global financial crisis, which decelerated global output and demand and gendering a spillover effect in emerging and developing markets activities, thereby exacerbating unemployment, most especially among women and youths. Driven by this deceleration of global demand, private households and firms in developed economies deleveraged their high debt burden through increased savings rates and austerity measures in public sectors. This resulted in downward pressure on both private and public consumption and investment, dragging down aggregate demand and growth with devastating effect on developing economies, especially those with high poverty levels and large unemployment in the informal sector. As a result, in 2013, the International Labor Organization estimated global youth unemployment at the rate of 12.6% employing unemployment of 73.8 million young people. In developed economies, youth unemployment increased by 24.9% since 2008, while some large economies like Spain and Greece have registered rates over 50%. During the same period, youth unemployment rates in developing economies were highest in the Middle East and North Africa, at 28.3% and 23.7%, respectively. In sub-Saharan Africa, importantly, however, ignoring the high level of vulnerable unemployed was registered at 11.8%, but up from 6% three years ago. This high unemployment, youth unemployment, is attributed to a missing pool of skilled labor as well as insufficient growth to absorb a growing labor force. Consequently, surplus workers face vulnerabilities as they pushed into the informal sector where they lack regular income benefits, job security, and pensions. Moreover, structure unemployment affects most vulnerable young people who comprise the large number of economic migrants, particularly from Africa, that continue to seek refuge in Europe, risking their lives in perilous voyages to pursue a livelihood with resulting racial tensions in host countries. The effect of unemployment on women is similar. The global financial crisis of 2008 intensified the economic barriers faced by young people in developing economies, often disproportionately affecting young women. The African development found that in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in all of North Africa, it is easier for men to get jobs than it is for women, even if they have equivalent skills and experience. In North Africa, for example, female youth unemployment increased by more than 9 percentage points compared to 3% for young males. GDP per capita losses attributed to the gender gap in a labor market are estimated at approximately 27%. Although significant progress has been made in closing the gap in income disparity, the disparity in gender in labor markets is still largely disproportionate worldwide, especially among young people. Moreover, fragile states like Liberia, my own, where the education and vocational skills sets of entire generations have been made casualties to violence tend to be more seriously affected by the unemployment crisis. In these countries, unemployment could be the tipping point for political instability. Furthermore, the pool of unemployed tends to migrate to the cities, exacerbating urbanization pressures through a growing concentration of urban-label supply. Liberia is a particular case in point. Despite average annual growth of over 7% since 2006, unemployment, especially youth unemployment, remains extremely high, and is a major challenge to the achievement of our development goals. The labor force survey of 2010 indicates vulnerable and informal employment for ages 15 and above accounted for an average of 74% with higher levels in rural areas. Females are more seriously affected compared with males. To address unemployment in one of the country's most economically deprived areas, where the most vulnerable and food insecure population live, we launched a pilot cash transfer program. The targeted households were typically headed by the elderly, people living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and youth or single mothers with dependence. By providing a relatively small amount of money, U.S. $20 a month, on a regular and predictable basis, there was marked improvement in the lives of the beneficiaries. An independent evaluation showed compelling evidence that the cash transfer program improved food security, education, access to health, and the economic condition of beneficiary households. It also showed that school attendance increased, and 66% of children in the target areas had improved marks. More importantly, the program showed great potential in stemming the inheritance of intergenerational poverty. The problem of unemployment requires multiple strategies. First, substantial investment is required in national educational systems, including technical and vocational training. Second, effort must be made by governments to improve the business environment for foreign and domestic firms. Equally as emphasized by the G-8 countries at their 39 summit, businesses must recognize the importance of taxes, trade, and transparency as critical for growth prosperity and economic development. Third, using the success stories of other countries, special economic zones could be considered, established to promote profitable job-creating manufacturing opportunities. Fourth, better allocation is required in the use of revenue from natural resources where most of us are very rich. Fifth, effort to invest in systems that enhance production and productivity in the subsistence and informal sectors would reduce unemployment particularly among the youths. And we believe that social protection programs such as the cash transfer program which target vulnerable groups, women, young people, and the elderly can make a difference. Let us all accept that there is no fix, no easy fix for youth unemployment. However, partnerships between the public and private sectors can make a big difference. Large corporations which have been able to obtain concessions in developing countries should be prepared to work with governments to address the unemployment problem through training, through social benefits to communities, improvements in infrastructure in communities, and better relations and exchange with people in the communities. There was also been urgent response to the call for linkages between the activities of large corporations and the economy at large. The evidence is clear that significant employment is not created by the large concessions and corporations which are largely capital intensive in their operations but by the small and medium-sized enterprises which lead to development of a middle class, the most sustainable driver of development. We can take on the challenge to ensure that there's no civil upheaval, political instability, and economic disruption by working together to make sure that we find a solution to youth unemployment, thereby increasing the world's economic pie. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. You draw the attention to an issue which will remain a key issue during the whole of the annual meeting. It's this link between creativity, education, skills, and employment. Of course, I could ask you many follow-up questions, but I will change a little bit. We have very little time, a little bit's a subject, and Europe is not only Europe, the whole world is looking with great concern at the moment at some fragile countries in Africa. And you, Madam President, you have, in the last 14 years, there was a recovery from the Civil War, there was reconciliation. Could you just in a very few words tell us what is the recipe to create out of a fragile state to gain a stable situation and a peaceful environment? I know it may be too ambitious to have a short answer to such a comprehensive question, but you have such an experience if you could just tell us what you feel is essential. One has to build resilience in the economy when there's fragility. And that resilience does not come through growth alone. Growth alone we all can have and we all can achieve. But being able to spread that growth to a larger number of the population so that you increase their per capita income, you reduce their vulnerabilities. And a key element in all of this is capacity. We have found from our experience the capacity to negotiate agreements, the capacity to be able to monitor the performance of private sector companies and operations, the capacity to build those institutions that have the capability of doing all of these for sustainable growth is where we have to concentrate. And so this is why the whole idea of addressing fragility is something that is very much on the agenda of the African Development Bank. And what they intend to do is to also use a regional approach whereby the surplus and deficits and capacities and infrastructure can be exchanged in the region thereby enabling regional growth, regional integration to enable larger activities, larger economies of scales and more sustainability management. So it takes a while. We've been at it for nine years and we haven't achieved it yet, but we've made progress. Thank you, President Johnson-Sillif. This concludes our morning session and we want to thank you again for having come into the cold of Davos, but we made a special arrangement so that at least we have some sunshine so you are not missing your country too much. Thank you. You really did it. Thank you.