WEF Calls For 'Bold Collective Action' Due To "World At Critical Inflection Point'

What is the WEF Meeting in Davos and What Should Be Expected From It This Year?

Sputnik News

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is preparing for another of its annual meetings of government leaders, business executives and billionaires from around the world in the picturesque Swiss alpine resort town of Davos. What’s on the agenda this year? And what’s fueling criticism of the event, and the WEF in general? Sputnik explores.

“The world today is at a critical inflection point. The sheer number of ongoing crises calls for bold collective action.” That’s the greeting message you get on the WEF’s landing page as the international non-governmental and lobbying organization prepares for its most highly-anticipated annual event – the conference at Davos.

This year’s event, running January 16 through 20, features a star-studded lineup from the world of global(ist) politics, finance, and technology, from Klaus Schwab – who founded the forum back in 1971, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish President Andrzej Duda, neoliberal political scientist Ian Bremmer, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, Credit Suisse chairman Axel Lehmann, BlackRock SEO Larry Fink, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and even actor Idris Elba and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, just to name a few.

They are just a small taste of the dozens of speakers at the 2023 Davos forum, with conferences dedicated to a dizzying array of topics, from globalization, macroeconomic trends, private equity, and global tax reform, to philanthropy, sustainability, decarbonization, gender parity, and LGBTQI+ issues, to ‘opportunities’ stemming from the global immigration crisis, the conflict in Ukraine, nuclear fusion, and artificial intelligence. Ukraine, energy, climate change and technology seem to constitute the core issues of WEF 2023, with multiple events dedicated to each of these topics.

Special addresses are expected by von der Leyen and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, and special one-on-one talks will be held with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, and Henry Kissinger. Driving home the focus on Ukraine is the plan by Zelensky presidential office head Andriy Yermak’s plan to give a talk on ‘Ukraine’s Peace Formula’.

Also notably absent from this year’s event are representatives from Russia, with Russian officials and businessmen banned. The WEF officially froze “all relations with Russian entities” in March 2022 after Moscow kicked off its special military operation in Ukraine.

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