Smriti Irani, Vaishnaw, Puri To Represent India At WEF Attended By Macron, Zelenskyy Li Qiang

At least three Indian Union ministers, chief ministers along with their ministerial colleagues and scores of Indian CEOs are headed to the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland scheduled for Monday to represent New Delhi at the high-stakes talks.

The WEF will be held between January 15 to 19, 2024, under the theme "Rebuilding Trust.” It will be attended by over 300 public figures, including more than 60 heads of state and government, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and China’s second-in-command, Li Qiang, all of whom will deliver a key note address at the WEF.

As many as 100 political and business leaders from India will attend the summit. Indian delegation will include 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, PTI reports. WEF will also host 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 WEF will be attended by at least 40 finance ministers and 16 central bank governors, as well as by 30 trade ministers from across the world, including the World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The crucial WEF summit is being held amidst challenging times of global conflicts, the cost of living crisis and other pressing geopolitical issues that need urgent attention from leaders. Davos, a day earlier, is hosting several national security advisors from at least 90 countries who will discuss Ukraine’s 10-Point Peace Formula to end the war with Russia.

Israel-Gaza conflict, AI-generated deep fakes threats, economic slowdown, and other key global issues to be discussed

The WEF sessions will also include the discussion around the Israel-Gaza conflict, AI-generated deep fakes threats ahead of elections in man countries, climate change, economic slowdown, and other key global issues. Some of the key decision makers will include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and dozens of the foreign ministers from the Middle East.

The WEF meeting will also be attended by the South Korean President Han Duck-soo, Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Swiss President Viola Amherd, Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Iraq President Mohammed Shyaa Al Sudani, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The heads of international organisations taking part include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President Ajay S Banga, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Speaking about the agenda this year at WEF, WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said, "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.” As major economies head for the elections, including India, Russia, and US, the threat of 'misinformation and disinformation' is the top risks that the economies will face, as per the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s annual 'Global Risks Report’.

The WEF will seek cooperation on urgent global issues. "Two-thirds of global experts anticipate a multipolar or fragmented order to take shape over the next decade, in which middle and great powers contest and set 'but also enforce'? new rules and norms," the forum stated.

(With Agencies Inputs)