Let me share a few highlights of my visit with you.

Ten years ago, it was widely believed that the UK would not prosper without stronger links to the eurozone. Last week, I listened to Angela Merkel, the new German Chancellor, praise the UK for becoming a truly globalised business centre and urge her counterparts across Europe to adopt British business practices in order to prosper in the global economy.

At the finance governors’ meeting — a gathering of 20 senior executives from leading financial institutions — we discussed the risks of not getting the balance of regulation right. Last year, nine out of the ten largest IPOs — and 90 per cent of the total amount of capital raised — involved no US listing, in part because of the growing burden of US regulation.

In the same meeting I was able to engage in a discussion with Louis Bacon, founder of one of the world’s largest hedge funds, Moore Capital, on how to face up to the current state of Britain’s gilts market, which is having a big impact on the ability of companies to close their pension deficits. For a bank such as Barclays, with its considerable stake in the global asset management business through Barclays Global Investors, that was the sort of chance for reflection that I could never have had sitting in my office in Canary Wharf.

Two of the world’s most important economies, China and India, were centre stage at this year’s forum. I heard the vice-chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress discuss plans to accelerate sharply the move of public sector companies into the private sector. This will open big opportunities for us in China, where last November we opened a new branch in Shanghai. Similarly, we were able to have interesting discussions with the Indian Finance Minister on prospects for the Indian economy and business.

Whatever the cynics may say, Davos also impresses on world leaders that, in order to create sustainable businesses, we need to be responsible global citizens. Corporate responsibility is something that Barclays takes seriously in the UK and across our international markets. Bono made the headlines when he and Bobby Shriver launched Product RED, an economic initiative designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to fight Aids and other illnesses that are debilitating Africa.

Barclays is one of the leading banks in Africa and last year took a majority sake in Absa, South Africa’s foremost retail bank. We know first-hand the impact of Aids on our colleagues and our clients. As a result, Barclays Africa runs an HIV/Aids programme that is a comprehensive offering of education, voluntary counselling and testing and clinical management of HIV-infected colleagues. Our comprehensive anti-retroviral treatment programme provides free treatment to HIV-positive employees and up to three dependants. Moreover, in 2005, Barclays embarked on a strategic partnership with Unicef to educate more than 1.5 million children on how to protect themselves from HIV and Aids.

The first Davos gathering was held in 1971, when globalisation as we know it had barely even begun. It was then a great idea. Today, the Forum has come into its own and it plays a role in bringing together the public and private sectors in an effort to create sustainable global economic prosperity. This year was no exception.