Of all the speakers, for my money ex-World Bank president *James Wolfensohn*was the best. Grandfatherly and kindly by appearance, the vision of the near future he painted was one of very rapid seismic transfers in the world order. Forgive me for reproducing much of it here, but is worth passing it on.
He said: "By 2050, according to research undertaken by the World Bank and the UN, the demographics are pretty clear. The world will grow from six billion people as it is today to a peak of nine billion in 2050. The consensus estimate is only a hundred million of that growth, of the people between six and nine billion, goes to the so-called wealthy countries, the OECD countries, and the other 2.9 billion goes to the developing countries. And that brings with it some very dramatic consequences. *HERE* <http://1426.blogspot.com/2010/01/time-to-look-east-china-india.html>
