Macron, Li Qiang, Zelenskyy to Take Part in WEF Davos Meet; Irani, Vaishnaw, Puri to Represent India

More than 2,800 leaders from around the world, including over 60 heads of states and governments, will meet in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos next week for the five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In an online pre-meeting press conference, WEF President Borge Brende said the meeting will take place in a very complicated and the most challenging geopolitical and geo-economic scenario.

The annual meeting, which will be held under the theme of ‘Rebuilding Trust’ from January 15-19, will also be attended by nearly 100 political and business leaders from India.

The Indian delegation would include three union ministers — Smriti Irani, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Hardeep Singh Puri — as well as three chief ministers — Maharashtra’s Eknath Shinde, Telangana’s Revanth Reddy and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah.

Describing India as a key country with over 8 per cent GDP growth, Brende said several ministers from the country will attend the meeting despite being in the middle of an election season.

Besides, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana will be also there, alongside several CEOs, including Gautam Adani, Sanjiv Bajaj, Kumar Mangalam Birla, N Chandrasekaran, Nadir Godrej, Sajjan Jindal, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Nandan Nilekani, Rishad Premji and Sumant Sinha.

The meeting will be attended by over 40 finance ministers and 16 central bank governors, as well as by 30 trade ministers from across the world along with the World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Among global leaders, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will take part.

Key foreign ministers from the Middle East will be also there. Before the start of the WEF meeting, a meeting of global security advisors will also be held in Davos and many of them will also attend the official programme.

The WEF said the meeting will drive dialogue, cooperation and partnerships on global imperatives, including economic growth, climate and nature action, energy security, technology governance and human development.

“We face a fractured world and growing societal divides, leading to pervasive uncertainty and pessimism. We have to rebuild trust in our future by moving beyond crisis management, looking at the root causes of the present problems, and building together a more promising future,” WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.

The meeting will also be attended by South Korean President Han Duck-soo, Spain Prime Minister Pedro Snchez, Swiss President Viola Amherd, Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Iraq President Mohammed Shyaa Al Sudani, Netherlands PM Mark Rutte, Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Vietnam PM Pham Minh Chinh.

Heads of international organisations taking part include UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President Ajay S Banga, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

An estimated 1,600 business leaders, including 800-plus of the world’s top CEOs and chairpersons, will also participate, while there will also be more than 150 global innovators, tech pioneers and unicorns, as also over 35 cultural leaders.