Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made an unprecendented and symbolic joint appearance during the World Economic Forum in Davos on 21 January 2016. They said they believed in a solution to unify the island in 2016. The island has been divided since 1974, during which the Turkish army invaded the Turkish part, following a coup d'etat by the Greek military junta. Earlier efforts have been made to unify the island, such as in 2004 with the Annan Peace Plan, that was voted down in a referendum by the Greeks. The atmosphere seems more favourable now for a deal due to the relatively recently discovered gas reserves next to Cyprus and the earlier economic troubles Cyprus has faced as unifcation could lead to potential economic benefits for both sides of the island.

“Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution” was the topic of this year’s annual meeting of world political and business leaders in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum was established 45 years ago by Klaus Schwab and it aims to “coordinate the activities of the leaders” on the global scale because in this manner they can “face global threats such as terrorism, conflicts and economic instability”. Usually, 1000-2000 participants attend the annual meeting in Davos, including politicians, businessmen, academics and journalists. This year’s discussions were dominated by issues regarding migration, the global economy, deepening income inequality in the world and the position of the United Kingdom towards the European Union.

General elections were held in Taiwan to elect the President, Vice President and the Legislative Yuan. Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was elected President with 56% of the votes. Her main rival, Eric Chu, of the Kuomintang Party obtained 31% of the votes. The DPP also secured a majority in the legislature (44% of the votes and 68 seats in the 113-seat parliament). The success of Tsai Ing-wen, the first women in history to become president of Taiwan, and the win of the DPP in the parliamentary elections, might result in worsening relations with China. Beijing considers the island to be a rebellious province.

On 16 January, the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Iran had fulfilled its initial commitments under the nuclear deal which was signed on 14 July 2015. For Iran, this is the day a large part of the reduction in economic sanctions would really kick in. The first stage was for Iran to dismantle significant parts of its nuclear programme and ship around 10,000kg of enriched uranium to Russia – 98% of its stockpile. Completion early this month far exceeded expectations and appears to have been heavily motivated by the belief that early sanction relief would give President Rouhani’s supporters a boost in the February 26 elections for the Majlis, the Iranian parliament. A concern by the international community is that the suspension of sanctions will reduce Iranian incentives for strict compliance in the future while supporters believe Iran will not risk to reverse the benefits it has just began to realize.

Following continuing economic troubles in Venezuela and amidst the political struggle for power in Venezuela, as earlier Parliamentary Elections in 2015 have led to a win of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), President Nicolás Maduro has declared ''Economic Emergency'' in the country on 15 January 2016, which would make him keep state controls. The Parliament would have to agree. Venezuela has been in bad economic shape now for a few years and the popularity of both the President and the Socialists which Nicolás Maduro is heading have been declining.

In the two rounds of elections (30 December 2015 and 7 January 2016) inhabitants of this small archipelago lying in the Pacific Ocean elected their representatives to the parliament. Of the 44 seats, 19 were won in the first round and 25 went to a run-off. During the run-off, both the Labor and the Environment Ministers lost their seats.