Swiss Re at WEF 2013: Live snow reports

Follow Swiss Re's activities at the WEF 2013 on this site, including "live snow reports" capturing our own and other delegates' impressions of the week in the shape of blogs and short video interviews.

"The growth challenge"

Michel M. Liès, Group CEO, Jan 23, 12:00

I've just arrived in beautiful Davos where we expect around 2600 political and business leaders to gather to discuss resilience. As highlighted in this year's Global Risks Report, we currently face a number of interconnected risks ranging from economic disparity and rising greenhouse gas emissions to aging populations and water supply crises.

The big question on everybody's mind is how can we pursue a path of growth while building resilience. Davos is a unique platform for meeting politicians, and one of Swiss Re's key roles at WEF is to help politicians learn more about how governments, communities and the private sector can work together to assess and plan for risks before they happen. In order to build resilience, countries must take a far more systematic approach to analyzing and monitoring a country's preparedness to cope with major threats. Our 150 years experience in assessing and managing risks gives us invaluable insights to share.

Countries and local governments are the insurers of last resort. Proper risk management can help countries attract investment, which is a key pre-requisite to boosting growth. During this week, I will be meeting many of our partners - including insurance companies, NGOs and government officials - to discuss ways together that could help enhance growth, security and financial inclusion.