Macron, Li Qiang, Zelenskyy join WEF Davos; India represented by ministers

Grappling for answers to crises ranging from climate to conflicts to fake news, more than 2,800 leaders from around the world, including India, have begun gathering in this Alpine resort town for an annual five-day talkathon.
Those present for the 54th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting beginning Monday would include over 60 heads of state and governments, while Indian presence would be marked by three Union ministers, three chief ministers along with their ministerial colleagues and over a hundred CEOs.
A day before the ceremonial start to the WEF meeting, Davos is hosting for the first time national security advisors from 90 countries to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine, which would also be a key point of discussion at the WEF sessions, alongside the Israel-Gaza conflict, threats from AI-generated deep fakes in a bumper election year, climate change, economic slowdown, and a lot many problems before the world. The World Economic Forum, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation committed to improving the state of the world, has been hosting this meeting in Davos for over five decades, and many times, there have been positive outcomes for key concerns before the world leaders.
In an online pre-meeting press conference, WEF President Borge Brende said the meeting will take place in a very complicated and the most challenging geopolitical and geo-economic scenario. The annual meeting, which will be held under the theme of ‘Rebuilding Trust’ from January 15-19, will also be attended by nearly 100 political and business leaders from India.
The Indian delegation would include three Union ministers — Smriti Irani, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Hardeep Singh Puri — as well as three chief ministers — Maharashtra’s Eknath Shinde, Telangana’s Revanth Reddy and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah. Describing India as a key country with over 8 per cent GDP growth, Brende said several ministers from the country will attend the meeting despite being in the middle of an election season.
Besides, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana will be also there, alongside several CEOs, including Gautam Adani, Sanjiv Bajaj, Kumar Mangalam Birla, N Chandrasekaran, Nadir Godrej, Sajjan Jindal, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Nandan Nilekani, Rishad Premji and Sumant Sinha. The meeting will be attended by over 40 finance ministers and 16 central bank governors, as well as by 30 trade ministers from across the world, along with the World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.