The US economic crisis takes the centre-stage at WEF The fears of a slowdown in the US economy formed the backdrop of the 38th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the famous Alpine ski resort of Davos in Switzerland. Over 2,500 political and business leaders heard key participants articulating the view that emerging economies, led by India and China, would play a key role in dealing with the global financial crisis. Former British prime minister Tony Blair and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger gave a thumbs-up to the economies of India and China. "It is important that we have good relations with India and China as centre of the political and economic gravity shifts," Blair noted. Even though the theme of this year's meeting was The power of collaborative innovation, the session that dominated the event was titled If America sneezes, does the world catch a cold? Another session that hogged the headlines addressed the major problems facing the world economy in 2008, like the continued losses from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and record highs in energy and commodity prices. The Indian presence at Davos was underlined by three cabinet ministers, P. Chidambaram, Kamal Nath and Praful Patel, and a host of business leaders. Nath dealt with the theme of the US economic slowdown as soon as he landed in Davos. "The US is heading towards a recession," he said. "But it may not impact much because of a shift in growth momentum towards India, China and East Asian countries." Although the US is a major trading partner of India, the Indian growth is mainly depen