The RGE Group, a $15 billion corporate family headed by founder and CEO Sukanto Tanoto of Indonesia, is one of the regional partners of the World Economic Forum. As such, RGE maintains active involvement in helping the WEF manage its ongoing mission, and assists in driving discussions on a regional level. Representing the company at the 2015 WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, was Anderson Tanoto, Sukanto Tanoto’s son and a leader not only in RGE’s business operations, but in the philanthropic Tanoto Foundation as well. He joined other prominent business, academic, and political leaders at the conference, whose theme was “The New Global Context.”
Attendees focused on the growing strategic competitiveness among nations as geopolitical rifts deepen and multi-national collaboration decreases. According to conference organizers, the global economic context is marked by declining public trust in institutions of all types, and by the acceleration of both positive changes and disruption on the scientific and technological fronts. In addition, leaders anticipated a normalization of geopolitical fiscal policies through an upcoming rise in interest rates and a decrease in quantitative easing.
As attendees heard in multiple venues at the summit, today’s business leaders face numerous macro-level challenges. These include burgeoning global terrorism, political and border instability, and climate change. The WEF’s Global Risks Report for 2015 listed 28 risks across multiple categories. Attendees noted specific incidents that gave reason for concern: the recent Japanese recession, slowed growth in China, and a slump in oil prices that has battered the economies of Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. Yet some see the potential for rapidly industrializing Asian nations, like Indonesia, to rebound and thrive in the near future.
The WEF, marking its 45th annual meeting in 2015, concentrates on using public-private dialogue and collaboration to solidify and increase economic prosperity around the world. As a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering learning, understanding, and cooperation among individual leaders, thinkers, and governments, the WEF maintains an independent focus and agenda. By committing time and effort to furthering the WEF’s mission, the RGE Group has demonstrated its dedication to assist in solving Indonesian and global social and economic problems. The RGE corporate group has created a number of private-public partnerships with the Tanoto Foundation, with the goal of building up Indonesia’s educational and social service infrastructure, particularly in isolated or under-resourced areas.