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A view ahead of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 15, 2024.
Adam Galitsky | CNBC
LONDON — It’s that time of year when the great and the good gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
A host of heads of state, politicians and business tycoons are set to attend the four-day event in the Alpine resort – but what may be more telling is which leaders are making the rounds of the forum.
While Donald Trump, who is inaugurated as US president on Monday, is expected to address the forum via live video link on Thursday, a number of key leaders are missing the event entirely.
They include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian leader Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is the only head of state who is personally present at the summit from the G7 (G7) of industrialized countries, which includes the US, Europe’s largest economies, Canada and Japan.
The WEF says this year’s event — the 55th annual forum, which runs from Monday to Thursday — will bring together some 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries, and the gathering “demonstrates the critical need for dialogue in an increasingly uncertain era.” It notes that 350 heads of government, including 60 heads of state and government, “will gather in Davos-Klosters to address pressing issues and shape new opportunities.”
People walk in front of a big screen during a speech by US President Donald Trump on January 26, 2018 at the Davos Congress Center (C), site of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, eastern Switzerland. / AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit: MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)
Miguel Medina | Afp | Getty Images
The theme of the event is “Collaboration in the Age of Smart Living”, the agenda of which focuses on five key areas: Rethinking Growth, Industry for the Age of Smart Development, Investing in People, Protecting Forests and Restoring Trust.
However, not all world leaders will be there to discuss these issues.
“The leaders of Brazil, China, and India, who gave keynote speeches 10 years ago, are not there now. Russia has not been welcomed for several years, Keir Starmer will not be there. Macron will not be there. Jan Art Scholte, professor of global transformation and governance at Leiden University, told CNBC on Thursday.
“It’s true that the Prime Minister of Spain will be there and a few other people, but the general picture of the heads of state and government is that they are not the big players. I think if you were to go through the list of the G20, it would be a small minority (who will take part )”, he said.
Official reasons for not participating in the World Economic Forum are often not given, but as is known, pressing domestic problems — from slowing economic growth to political crises — do not allow heads of government to stay at home.
Xi Jinping, President of China, speaks during the opening plenary session of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In recent years, there has been some ambivalence about attending the event, which has been accused of being elitist and out of touch.
CNBC has contacted the WEF for comment. The forum has repeatedly stated that it provides a space where stakeholders from various sectors of business, government, academia, civil society, media and the arts can “meet on a global, impartial, non-commercial platform”.
These people, it says, “come together to find common ground and seize opportunities for positive change on big global issues.”
Who will be there
A number of big names will still join this year’s summit, an event that began back in 1971 under the auspices of Klaus Schwab, who remained executive chairman of the event until earlier this year.
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuesian, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Argentine Prime Minister Javier Millay and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will speak in Davos this week.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also take part, as well as the heads of world organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.
Ursula von der Leyen reacts after being elected president of the European Commission for a second term, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on July 18, 2024.
Johanna Heron | Reuters
Sven Smith, senior partner at WEF strategic partner McKinsey & Company, said in online comments that a priority for attendees would be to “understand what’s on the minds of the leaders who are in Davos.”
“You can’t fully predict it, there are themes that people come up with, they range from growth to sustainability, but what turns into a Davos theme is not fully predictable, and that’s the most interesting thing,” Smith said.
However, many of the Western institutions in attendance have found themselves on the wrong side of the anti-globalization push in recent years by populist leaders like Trump and countries like Russia and China.
Scholt noted that the WEF has also not bought into this anti-establishment trend, and while the presence of leaders like Trump may not have been welcome in the past, there is now a recognition that the world has changed.
“I don’t think advocates of a liberal, open world economy speak with as much disdain, let’s say, about opposing forces and views as they could before, say, the global financial crisis,” he said.
“I think there’s a little bit more modesty that, no, it doesn’t work to the full extent sometimes. And no, we don’t always give enough consideration to those who feel excluded from it.”
However, he emphasized that the WEF still attracts many business and political leaders.
“There are various indicators that a site like the World Economic Forum is not as strong a magnet as it might have been a few decades ago,” Scholte said. “But the idea that it’s no longer a magnet, and the idea that it also doesn’t have certain areas in global economic governance where it can still be very strong, I think that would be wrong.”
