Nearly 5,000 Swiss army personnel, including those equipped with the latest gadgets like drones and AI-powered tools, have taken over Davos, a small skiing resort town to ensure the safety of its high-profile visitors for the week and to ensure the successful completion of the annual confluence of biggest names in the world from business to government to civil society to art and culture and a lot of others.
The thousands-strong army deployment is adding to a large number of police and civilian personnel tasked to secure this small Alpine resort town. (PTI)
The 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting will be held from January 20-24. The 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will convene under the theme – Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.
Talking about the agenda of WEF 2025, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said there was a lot of interest globally in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic policies, which would be the focus of discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Vaishnaw is leading the Indian delegation at the annual World Economic Forum meeting beginning Monday. He noted that there was a lot of interest in India’s growth story among the international community, particularly about the digital transformation and the new digital architecture.
“In the World Economic Forum in Davos, there is lot of interest in understanding our thought process, the prime minister’s economic policy, about the digital transformation, about the way India has created new digital architecture under the Digital India programme and also the way technology has been democratised. There is a lot of interest on this,” he said.
Donald Trump will mark his return to the global stage with a virtual World Economic Forum appearance in Davos, as world leaders await details of the incoming US President’s policies and his pledge to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump, who has twice previously attended Davos, will join “digitally” on January 23, Reuters reported.
US President-elect Donald Trump, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be among 60 top political leaders from across the world who will address the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos from Monday.
Heads of international organisations taking part would include World Trade Organization’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva, NATO’s Mark Rutte, WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and UNDP’s Achim Steiner.
Indian participation would include five union ministers — Ashwini Vaishnaw, CR Patil, K Ram Mohan Naidu, Chirag Paswan and Jayant Chaudhary — and three chief ministers — Devendra Fadnavis, N Chandrababu Naidu and Revant Reddy, along with other ministers from other states and over 100 CEOs.
Over 1,600 business leaders, including more than 900 of the world’s top CEOs, will also participate, along with over 120 of which are Global Innovators, Tech Pioneers and Unicorns who are transforming industries.
In 1971, Professor Klaus Schwab founded the World Economic Forum as a not-for-profit foundation under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Government to promote stakeholder capitalism. He chose Davos as the home for the annual meeting for the escape from the every day that the mountains represent in Swiss and German culture.
Initially, the forum focused on how European firms could catch up with US management practices. But by 1973, global events like the Arab-Israeli War and the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate mechanism led to the annual gathering expanding its focus from management to economic and social issues.
In 1975, the forum introduced a membership system for ‘the 1,000 leading companies of the world’. Since then, every year, Davos brings together some 3,000 participants (including paying members and selected invitees), among whom are investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists, for a five-day summit that discusses global issues.
Per the forum’s official site, over the last fifty years, Davos has addressed the key events of world history, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of economic globalization and runaway climate change. It also contributed to averting a war between Greece and Türkiye, built economic bridges around the world, and gave a platform to leading environmentalists among other things.
The start of the 55th annual World Economic Forum on January 20th coincides with Donald Trump’s return to the White House for a second term as US President. As the World Economic Forum in Davos continues to champion global cooperation, it faces a stark contrast with Donald Trump’s “America First” ideology. A sharp shift from the globalisation agenda that defined Davos.
Trump’s virtual address on Thursday, January 23rd is one of the Forum’s most anticipated sessions this year. This marks his third appearance at this gathering in recent years, with WEF President Borge Brende stating that Trump will not only deliver a speech but also interact with delegates.
While America dominates discourse at the forum- with at least three sessions focussed on the US Presidency, economy and dollar, India’s corporate presence at Davos this year appears subdued. Read more