United States President Donald Trump will virtually attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a few days after his inauguration, the forum's president said on Tuesday.
Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister who heads the Geneva-based organization, noted that during his first term, Mr. Trump had personally attended the meeting twice, which brings together government leaders, business leaders and other executives.
"On Thursday afternoon he will join us via the internet for a dialogue with our participants ," Mr. Brende told reporters on Tuesday as he presented the five-day agenda for the meeting, which will begin on Monday, the day of Mr. Trump's inauguration.
"We think it will be a very special moment," he added, especially to understand the " priorities" that the new administration will pursue.
Mr. Brende said he did not know whether Elon Musk, the multibillionaire who will be one of the leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency, a new entity in the Trump administration, would attend the forum. However, Mr. Brenda added that the forum expects "additional, high-level representation" from the US administration as the Senate confirmation process for Mr. Trump's appointees gets underway.
The forum organizers say that this year's meeting is expected to be attended by around 900 business leaders, including from important emerging markets, while in total around 3,000 participants from over 130 countries will be present.
With the challenges of climate change, wars, global tensions, economic uncertainty and other issues, Mr. Brende acknowledged that the forum's 55th annual meeting will take place "in the most complex geopolitical challenge in generations."
The theme of this year's meeting is " Collaboration for the Intelligent Age " - a sign of the growing importance of technology in the world.
The World Economic Forum has long been criticized as a forum that gathers global elites to “weave plans” for the future while gathering in a quiet, snowy area in the Swiss Alps. Critics often argue that the developing world receives less attention than global powers and big business in the West or the Gulf states.
Forum manager Mirek Dusek insisted that the number of businesses from developing countries in the "Global South" was growing and that the number of their executives attending the meeting was "equal" to that of leaders in the developed world.
Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Commission, plans to attend the opening day of the meetings on Tuesday, following the forum's opening gala on Monday. Other high-ranking participants include Argentine President Javier Miel, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
The forum's wide-ranging topics will include the future of Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month, and the meeting will be attended by the new Syrian foreign minister; other topics will be the fight against climate change; the threats posed by artificial intelligence; global trade and economic growth; and wars in countries such as Ukraine, Sudan. VOA (A2 Televizion)
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