The year 2010 will be a challenging year with the world facing a potential social crisis which came as a result of the previous financial and economic crisis, the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned on Wednesday.

"We run the risk that 2010 becomes the year of the social crisis that follows the 2009 economic crisis and the 2008 financial crisis," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the 40-year-old organization.

In his opening remarks to government and business leaders attending the organization's annual Davos meeting, Schwab warned that the potential social crisis could easily become an intergenerational crisis if world leaders "continue the dangerous habit of delaying true problem solving."

"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 more than 2,500 participants at the forum 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 said.

Participants at the five-day meeting include over 1,400 top- level executives from the world's leading companies, some 30 heads of state or government, more than 60 government ministers and more than 100 top officials from international organizations and Non- Governmental Organizations.

Issues high on the agenda include what lessons the world should draw from the recent financial and economic crisis and how to promote a stable recovery, the world negotiations on climate change, and the reconstruction of quake-hit Haiti.