Børge Brende WEF President On How Conflict, Cooperation And Growth Coexist At Davos 2026

At Davos 2026, World Economic Forum President Børge Brende tells Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today and Rajdeep Sardesai, consulting editor, India Today TV that the world is living through an unusual phase where conflict and cooperation coexist. As tensions rise—from Iran’s presence at Davos to ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine—Brende notes that global growth has proven more resilient than expected. Contrary to fears last year that geopolitical confrontations would derail the economy, growth has strengthened, driven by frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence. While global trade is expanding more slowly, Brende argues that technology-led investment is emerging as a new growth engine. He adds that cooperation is increasingly bilateral rather than multilateral, describing today’s reality as “cooperation in a very competitive world.