Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses,
Vice President Joe Biden-- what great pleasure
to have you here.
I have the honor to introduce you more
formally tomorrow-- Dr. Biden.
Friends, members of the World Economic Forum--
what incredible community again.
And I have the pleasure to welcome you
on behalf of the Managing Board, and here particularly
of my colleague Howell, who has the responsibility
for this meeting.
And I'm not counting security and the 2,400 people who
are here, plus [INAUDIBLE], to make your life
efficient and enjoyable.
We are here, leaders from all walks
of life-- political leaders, business leaders, our partners,
and our members.
But also I would like to welcome the representatives
of civil society, particularly also the young people.
We feel, with the median age of 27 in the world,
young people have to be engaged.
So I welcome particularly our young global leaders,
our global shapers, and our social entrepreneurs.
Please stand up.
[APPLAUSE]
And, for first time, we have even a young [INAUDIBLE]--
a global shaper-- as one of our cochairs.
Welcome.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Of course, we know that this meeting
is very much in the public eye.
We welcome the public engagement,
and we welcome the media here.
And this meeting is animated by the best minds in the world.
So a special welcome to the heads of our global agenda
councils, to all those brilliant people who are here among us.
We are a true community.
And Davos is not just an event.
It's not just a conference.
It is an experience.
And I have three wishes.
When you leave, the first wish-- I
hope you have made many friends here,
and friends particularly from other countries--
bridge-building.
Second, I hope that you go home with one transformative idea,
not just for your company but for yourself.
And finally, I hope you go home and you
are, as myself and all my colleagues,
convinced that the future of our small global village
can only be well managed if there is as much dialogue,
collaboration, and cooperation.
Now I would like to invite my partner-- and actually
the chair of our partner organization
the World Arts Forum-- to take the place here.
[APPLAUSE]