WEF expects record presence at Davos meet; India Inc gears up

WEF's high-profile annual congregation of the world's rich and powerful at the Swiss ski resort town of Davos will this year host over 300 heads of state and government along with 1,500 business leaders, including more than 100 members of India Inc.
The theme of this year's annual meeting is 'The new global context' and will have Indian industrialist and Jubilant Group head Hari S Bhartia as one of the six co-chairs, Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) said today.
The other co-chairs for the meeting will be World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Oxfam International's Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, Alliance Trust's CEO Katherine Garrett-Cox and Brazilian banking giant Itau Unibanco's CEO Roberto Egydio Setubal.

Announcing details, WEF said that a record number of over 2,500 participants from more than 140 countries representing business, government, international bodies, academia, civil society and the media will participate in the 45th Annual Meeting from January 20-24, 2015.
From India, the event is likely to be attended by more than 100 business leaders, besides some senior union ministers and other top government officials.
"In particular, most European countries will be represented by the prime minister, president or chancellor and will be accompanied by strong government delegations. A number of heads of state from Africa will be in Davos as well as most of the leaders from the ASEAN countries," WEF said.

"The key Latin American countries will also be represented at the highest level. China, the US, Japan and Russia will send top-level delegations. The heads of all the world's major international organisations will also be in Davos," it added.

In addition, the annual Davos meet will also convene the heads of the world's leading civil society organisations, world-class academics, including 14 Nobel laureates.
"Today's leaders are facing challenges that are unprecedented in complexity, velocity and interconnectedness. Finding a way to navigate these successfully in 2015 is, therefore, a critical priority for every leader, not just to ensure sustainable growth but to rebuild trust," WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.

With significant participation from all crisis-hit areas in the world, the Davos meet will convene a number of official and unofficial dialogues to stimulate peace-making efforts.
The WEF will also launch 10 major multi-year initiatives such as infrastructure finance and the future of the global financial system.
At the request of the UN Secretary General, it will place special emphasis during the meet on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and next United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Paris, and it will provide an ongoing platform for expanding public-private cooperation in support of both, the Forum said.
In addition, there will be a special gathering of trade ministers taking place during the meeting, it added.