The World Economic Forum's ability to convene the highest operating public and private actors with equal ease is now well established and is evidenced each year at its annual forum in Davos. This niche creates the space for stakeholder engagement in the current global economic environment where global solutions can best be achieved by exploiting public-private synergy.

I first visited Vietnam around 20 years ago - at a time when almost everyone travelled by bicycle, and the whole country operated in a somewhat austere style. Having been back regularly since then, I've seen the bicycles transforming into motorbikes, and more recently the motorbikes into cars.

We're hearing more and more in the media about the UN General Assembly meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which will take place in New York...