India News | .NEWDELHI/DAVOS DCM78 WEF-TRUST-LEADERS Trust Among Most Scarce Commodities During Pandemic: Leaders at WEF Summit

New Delhi/Davos, Jan 18 (PTI) Trust has emerged as one of the most scarce commodities during two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and a huge inequity has been a key driving force behind it, experts opined on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda summit.

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The pandemic has shown that if one person is at risk, we are all at risk, said Sharon Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, at a session on 'Renewing a Global Social Contract session'.

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We need a new social contract as a result, but the big challenge is to rebuild trust, she added.

The day also saw the annual Edelman Trust Barometer survey showing that rebuilding trust was key to societal stability.

During various sessions at the WEF event, the challenge of trust was echoed by a number of leaders including social entrepreneurs, business, academia and beyond.

"One of the most scarce commodities in the pandemic response has been trust," said Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation's Health Emergencies Programme, during a session on 'Meeting the challenge of vaccine equity'.

This has contributed to the vaccine inequality, we are witnessing today, he added.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, said at the same session that the loss of trust has also manifested in some vaccine scepticism or rejection of certain types of vaccine and one solution to that could be a single standard of clinical trial.

During a session on 'Renewing a global social contract', Yara International CEO Svein Tore Hosether said the inequity itself has also driven a loss of trust. He said all companies should ask themselves -- what is the purpose of their existence?

Sanjay Pradhan, CEO of the Open Government Partnership, also talked about a trust crisis, while Hahrie Han, Director of SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said trust can be built when people are offered the opportunity to become architects of their own future.

Manpower Group CEO Jonas Prising said there is an urgent need to address the deep-rooted inequalities in the labour market.

"We are in a tremendous moment of change," Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights at the European Commission, told The Davos Agenda. The pandemic has not lessened the need to tackle other challenges -- notably climate change, he said. But, it's important that we get economic and social recovery right, particularly in more vulnerable countries, said Nadia Calvino, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Digitalization.

Holsether said we need to move from shareholder to stakeholder capitalism and this is not just needed, it is expected.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio also looked towards the future of capitalism, calling for a new form of liberal democratic capitalism, balancing economic growth and distribution, in his special address.

The public and private sectors will need to work together to achieve this, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)