Daily Times

KARACHI: Academy Award Winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will co-chair the 47th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting scheduled to take place from 17-20 January 2017.

The meeting will take place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme “Responsive and Responsible Leadership”. The meeting will convene more than 2,500 participants from nearly 100 countries to take part in over 300 sessions. A recipient of the World Economic Forum ‘Crystal Award’ and part of the Young Global Leaders community, Sharmeen is the first artist ever to co-chair the prestigious forum’s annual meeting.

Established since 1971, The World Economic Forum is committed to improving the state of the world. Its annual meeting remains the foremost creative force for engaging the world’s top leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industrial agendas at the beginning of each year. Its 2017 iteration will focus on five distinct challenges facing the world, namely the breakdown in global collaboration; loss of identity; slow economic growth; a crisis in capitalism and preparing for the oncoming Fourth Industrial Revolution. Along with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Brian T. Moynihan of Bank of America, Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Save the Children International, Frans van Houten of Royal Philips and Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be tasked with shaping the discussion as co-Chairs.

Speaking about the role, Obaid-Chinoy said; “It is a great honour to be the first artist ever to be given the opportunity to co-chair the prestigious World Economic Forum at Davos in 2017. I have always believed that the true mark of any thriving society is the amount of investment made in its cultural and artistic infrastructure. There is, now, an increasing recognition of the fact that business and economics must go hand-in- hand with culture and arts for society to move forward and it is with great pride that I will be representing both the art community and my country, Pakistan!”

“Our world continues to become increasingly interdependent, even as political events signal a desire for isolation and a retreat from globalization. To address both of these profound forces, we must strive for better global governance systems that provide everyone with a voice,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

The World Economic Forum will also be honouring the 23rd Annual Crystal Award winners during the opening session of the meeting on 16 January. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, musician Shakira and actor/ social activist Forest Whitaker will be awarded with the 2017 Crystal Awards in recognition of their leadership as artists to improving the state of the world.

Through both her onscreen work as an award-winning documentary filmmaker and her off screen efforts, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has become an important part of the global conversation in support of women’s issues and human rights.

Having worked with refugees and marginalized communities from Saudi Arabia to Syria and from Timor Leste to the Philippines, Sharmeen has often helped them bring about a critical change in their community by bringing highlighting their voices. She has made various multi award winning films in over 10 countries around the world. Her films include Saving Face, Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret and Pakistan’s Taliban Generation. Her work has aired on channels spanning four continents including, HBO, CNN, PBS, Channel 4, CBC, Arte, SBS and the Discovery channel. In 2012, Time Magazine included Sharmeen in their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.