New Delhi/Geneva:Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the online Davos Agenda summit of the World Economic Forum on the first day of the five-day event beginning January 17, joining a host of other global leaders who will share their visions for 2022 on the state of the world.
While the WEF had to defer its physical annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort town Davos due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will host the 'Davos Agenda' summit digitally for the second consecutive year in the previously scheduled week for the event. It hopes to convene the 2022 annual meeting later this year.
Announcing the schedule, the WEF said 'Davos Agenda 2022' will be the first global platform for key world leaders to share their visions for 2022 and it is being convened on the theme of 'The State of the World'.
Heads of state and government will join CEOs and other leaders for a virtual week-long dialogue on critical collective challenges and how to address them, while this dialogue will be a springboard to the Annual Meeting in Davos, scheduled for early summer.
In addition to Modi, the world leaders delivering 'State of the World' special addresses will include Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen, and Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Geneva-based WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation, said radically different pandemic experiences have exacerbated global divisions, while vaccine inequities, combined with new strains, have also slowed international economic recovery.
However, COVID-19 is only one of the critical global challenges which may become unmanageable unless world leaders prioritize proactive collaboration and therefore the Davos Agenda will focus on driving concerted action among key global stakeholders, it added.
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