World Economic Forum managing director Saadia Zahidi attends a press conference ahead of the 2019 edition of the annual meeting of the WEF on Jan15, 2019 in Geneva. (PHOTO / AFP)

GENEVA - In light of a gloomy outlook for the world economy in the short term, the health of Chinese economy means positive spillover for the rest of the world, the managing director of the World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday.

"If we're looking at the two-year timeframe, 30 percent of people believe that we have a potentially catastrophic risk outlook. When it comes to the 10-year timeframe, nearly two-thirds of people believe that," Saadia Zahidi told Xinhua in an online interview.

Ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the WEF's Global Risks Report 2024 warned that misinformation and disinformation are the biggest short-term risks, while extreme weather and critical change to Earth systems are the greatest long-term concerns.

China is one of the key economies in the world, and so the health of that economy then has very positive spillovers for the rest of the world. 

Saadia Zahidi World Economic Forum managing director

The report also said the coming years will be marked by persistent economic uncertainty and growing economic and technological divides.

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Asked about China's economic outlook, Zahidi said: "Uncertainty is the key word for most economies around the world, including China. The positive is that China is one of the very few large economies in the world that is not struggling with inflation, that is not struggling with very high interest rates at present."

"The measures taken by the Chinese leadership are starting to work and starting to bear fruit, whether that is more focused on the manufacturing sector, whether that's more focused on green technologies, whether it's making sure that there's a revival in trade," she said.

"China is one of the key economies in the world, and so the health of that economy then has very positive spillovers for the rest of the world," she added.

Noting that the WEF has an ongoing, decades-long relationship with China, she said: "We hope to do more public-private collaborations in China. We've had a lot of collaboration on nature and climate and on the financial and monetary system, and we hope to be able to do a lot more."

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Between Jan 15-19, the 54th WEF annual meeting will be held in the Swiss ski resort Davos, under the theme "Rebuilding Trust." More than 300 public figures will participate this year, including more than 60 heads of state and government, the organizers said.

Commenting on this year's theme, Zahidi stressed the "fracturing of trust around the world."

"We're seeing a schism between the Global North and the Global South. We're seeing concerns around rising societal polarization within societies. We've got economic hardship going on, at the same time across various countries," she said.

The WEF's new report has urged more global cooperation and partnerships to tackle the planet's biggest risks.

"It's very important that we not just build trust with each other again, and that's what we provide a platform for bringing different global leaders together. But together they end up developing a positive enough vision that societies start having trust again in their future," she said.

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"The other important message is that a lot of action is possible at a local level. A lot of action is in the hands of citizens and individuals. It's not only agreements between 200 governments that need to be occurring to deal with some of these risks," she added.