Press Release

Published 31.01.2010 Author: Federation of Swiss Protestant Chruches

The right questions on complex issues

Often to a packed floor, the eighth Open Forum in Davos presented lively debate between civil society and political and industrial leaders.

The eighth Davos Open Forum ended yesterday with a discussion on "a world without nuclear weapons – utopia?" Participants included German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

After the formal close by the Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, André Schneider, the President of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (FSPC), Thomas Wipf, declared himself "impressed with the challenging discussions between panellists and the floor". Wipf added that the "thorough knowledge and serious attitude, especially of the many school and university students, have shown that society is asking the right questions on complex issues".

The membership of the panel demonstrated once again that public dialogue between politics, business and society at large is both possible and necessary. As Wipf pointed out, "the debates have always focused on specifics, underlining that superficial, dogmatic attitudes often fail to do justice to the complexity of many problems".

The 2010 Davos Open brought together as many as 450 participants in seven panels, from 28 to 30 January. To see pictures and video recordings of all the debates, please visit www.openforumdavos.ch.

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