Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF talks during the opening reception of the forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. [CFP]

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), warned of further crises and called for abandoning the old system.

"Significant work must be done to rebuild a true partnership between governments and business to allow business to remain innovative and enterprising and to create jobs," he said.

According to the WEF chief, it's "dangerous" for world leaders to think that the worst of the crisis is over and "we are back to business as usual."

"The crisis has fundamentally changed our world, and we can no longer revert to the old system," he stressed.

He called on the forum participants to address the new reality and embrace the theme of the meeting: "Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild."

"This means concretely rethinking our values, redesigning our systems and rebuilding our institutions," he explained.

More than 200 working sessions will be held during the five-day gathering, with the participation of some 2,500 delegates from over 90 countries, representing business, government, civil society, academia and the media.

Like previous meetings in the Swiss alpine resort, participants will also talk about security issues such as the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East.