Later this week, a group of world leaders and renowned economists will gather in conference rooms and workshops to discuss the state of the global economy. In particular, they will focus on the idea of “Resilient Dynamism,” this year’s theme at the World Economic Forum (WEF), happening January 23 – 27 in Davos, Switzerland.

In the context of their meeting, “resilient dynamism” refers to a country’s capability to adapt to changing conditions, withstand sudden shocks, and recover to a desired equilibrium in the event of inertia.

In advance of their annual meeting, the WEF also released the “Global Risks” report, which identifies both the global risks that have the  greatest likelihood of occurring (these include severe income disparity, chronic fiscal imbalances, rising greenhouse gas emissions, water supplies crisis and mismanagement of aging population) and the risks that would have the greatest impact should they occur (these include major systemic financial failure, water supply crisis, chronic fiscal imbalance, food shortage, and weapons of mass destruction). Their conversations will be holistic, looking not just at isolated areas of concerns, but at how economic, environmental, governance, infrastructure and social systems relate and affect one another.

Looking through the WEF’s meeting programme, we at VNHELP can’t also help but contemplate what resilient dynamism means for Vietnam, its development, and the lives of the poor people we seek to assist.

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