The six-day online Davos Agenda Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) began on Sunday and will continue till January 29. Topics expected to dominate the summit include the COVID-19 pandemic, global vaccination drives, climate change and restoration of economies.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak on January 28 while Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong will speak on January 29, the last day of the summit. Other participants include world leaders like Chinese premier Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Japan PM Yoshihide Suga. However, newly elected US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will miss the event.
The annual congregation of world leaders, which usually takes place at the ski resort of Davos in Switzerland is being held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the WEF physical annual meeting will be held in May in Singapore.
The themes for discussion at the ongoing Summit are split across 7 key topics – How to save the planet, fairer economies, tech for good, society and future of work, better businesses, healthy future and beyond geo-politics.
Schedule:
January 25 – Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a special address with several sessions through the day on the COVID-19 crisis, restoring economic growth and stakeholder capitalism. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also address a session.
January 26 – Speakers include South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.
January 27 – Speakers include Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in, Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
January 28: Speakers will be Indian PM Narendra Modi, Jordan King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein and Argentina President Alberto Fernandez.
January 29: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will speak on Friday, the last day of the summit.
Other major speakers would include Christine Lagarde, and Bill Gates, Punit Renjen of Deloitte, Brian T Moynihan of Bank of America, Al Gore, Ishaan Tharoor, Mark Carney, Angel Gurria of OECD, Ajay Banga, K T Rama Rao, Masayoshi Son of Softbank and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of WHO.
Indian Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will also speak at the event.