The World Economic Forum, colloquially known as Davos after the Swiss village that hosts the event, seems like a holdover from a more hopeful time when leaders were expected to get together to talk about making the world a better place. Today, the mission of “improving the state of the world” seems almost quaint or, worse, out of touch, leading some to advocate for the demise of an event whose moment, they say, has come and gone.

But for all of the valid criticisms of increasing concentration of wealth, leaders out of step with the needs of their people, and growing inequality, the modern world faces problems that cannot easily be solved by an individual country. Events like Davos are part of the answer: an important venue for relationship-building and conversations key to offsetting friction and instability.