Over 60 heads of state to attend WEF conference in Davos

New York, Jan 16 (IANS) Over 60 heads of state will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year, media reports said.

Some of the dignitaries include Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and China’s second-in-command Li Qiang.

The US will be represented by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, CNN reported.

Business executives including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, will also attend the event.

With several major countries approaching pivotal elections this year (half the world’s population is going to the polls in 2024), leaders are concerned about how these events might reshape international alliances and economic policies.

Climate change is a hot topic as leaders meet to discuss balancing economic growth with sustainability.

The WEF summit comes just days after scientists around the globe reported that the average temperatures last year reached a new record high. That change has propelled the world just hundredths of a degree away from a critical climate threshold, CNN reported.

The WEF’s Global Risks report, published last week, found climate change to be one of the biggest risks facing the world.

The World Bank said last week that the global economy is likely to slow to its worst half decade of growth in the past 30 years. Without “a major course correction,” the bank said, this will be “a decade of wasted opportunity.”

With conflict in Europe and the Middle East and growing tensions between the US and China, geopolitics will be another major topic of conversation.

On Sunday, the leaders discussed Ukrainian President Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s war with his country. Zelensky is expected to give a speech on Tuesday and meet with JPMorgan’s Dimon, CNN reported.

Israeli President Herzog, meanwhile, will participate in a conversation about “achieving security and cooperating in a fractured world,” with US Secretary of State Blinken and WEF executive chairman Klaus Schwab later this week.