The annual meeting of the global elite at Davos, Switzerland, has ended with warnings that while the worst of the financial crisis seems over, there is still much to be done.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde said in the closing moments of the annual gathering on Saturday that she recommended the "do not relax principle" for the coming year.
Where for the two previous years a sense of crisis had hung over the World Economic Forum, the mood was sunnier in 2013 as speaker after speaker said they were now cautiously optimistic, AFP reports.
"I feel the circumstances in which I'm addressing you today are very different than 12 months ago," said Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in his opening speech, following a torrid year dominated by the euro crisis.
European central banker Mario Draghi meanwhile hailed 2012 as the year that the troubled single currency was "relaunched", even as others were hailing him as the man who had saved the eurozone from catastrophe.
The Chinese economy's slowdown seemed less serious than a year ago to the participants while the step back from the fiscal cliff in the United States also eased minds.
However Ms Lagarde said the IMF's forecast of a very fragile and timid recovery for 2013 was based on "eurozone leaders, the US authorities on the other hand and the Japanese authorities making the right decisions".
"That's what I mean by 'do not relax' because some good policy decisions have been made in various parts of the world. In 2013, they have to keep the momentum," she added.
