WEF Davos to host 40 govt heads; India to have strong presence

GENEVA/NEW DELHI: Hundreds of rich and powerful people across the world will congregate next week at the Swiss skiing resort town of Davos for the World Economic Forum, where India will be represented by an over 100-member delegation including senior ministers and corporate leaders.

Those scheduled to attend the five-day WEF Annual meeting, beginning January 21, include more than 40 heads of state or government, including those from the UK, Australia, Japan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Brazil, Italy, Mauritius, Republic of Korea and Switzerland, WEF announced today at a press conference in Geneva.

The Indian leaders expected to attend the meeting include Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister for Urban Development & Parliamentary Affairs Kamal Nath.

Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel and Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan would also attend the meeting.

Besides WEF meetings, the Indian leaders are also expected to hold bilateral and multi-lateral meetings with their counterparts in other countries, as also with the CEOs of many top companies from across the world.

More than 100 corporate leaders from India are also expected to be present at this annual global event.

They include Tata group chief Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, as also other top businessmen such as Azim Premji, Adi Godrej, Gautam Adani, Rahul Bajaj, Sunil Mittal, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Prashant Ruia, Shivinder and Malvinder Mohan Singh, G M Rao, Pawan Munjal, Naina Lal Kidwai, Naresh Goyal, Uday Kotak and Rana Kapoor.

WEF said that its 44th annual meeting would be attended by over 2,500 participants from almost 100 countries, including 1,500 business leaders, and this year's theme would be "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business'.

The Co-Chairs of the Annual Meeting 2014 are Kris Gopalakrishnan (President, Confederation of Indian Industry and Vice-Chairman, Infosys), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo CEO), Aliko Dangote (CEO of Nigeria's Dangote Group), Jiang Jianqing (Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China), Joseph Jimenez (CEO of Novartis), Christophe de Margerie (CEO of Total) and Judith Rodin (President, Rockefeller Foundation).

Leaders of G20 countries who will address the Meeting include Australia's Tony Abbot, Japan's Shinzo Abe, UK's David Cameron, Italy's Enrico Letta, Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, Park Geun-Hye from Republic of Korea and Brazil's Dilma Rousseff.

Other top leaders attending the meeting are World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, Israel Prime Minister Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Myanmar President U Thein Sein.