Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda and delivering the 'State of the World' special address on Monday, at 8:30 pm (IST) via video conference. The virtual event, which will commence on January 17 and continue till January 21, will also be addressed by several Heads of State including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, European Commission President Ursua von der Leyen, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others. The WEF will broadcast the event on its various social media channels and its official website.
The forum said that "Davos Agenda 2022" will be the first global platform for key world leaders to share their visions for 2022. The Agenda is set to be the “starting point for the dialogue” needed for global cooperation this year.
As Modi is scheduled to address the second virtual Geneva-based WEF meeting due to the coronavirus pandemic, here’s what we can expect:
1. The 5-day event will be witnessing the largescale participation of top industry and business leaders. Representatives from the international organisations and civil society will also talk about the several, critical challenges that are being increasingly experienced by the world business forums in contemporary times, and how to deal with them. WEf further said that the ‘radically different experiences’ of the pandemic have amplified global divisions, vaccine inequality, and these along with the new strains have slowed the process of economic recovery. It is now urging all the world leaders to prioritise proactive collaboration.
2. World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva, European central bank president Christine Lagarde, the special presidential envoy for the climate of the US John F Kerry and WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are also expected to attend the event.
3. The Davos Agenda 2022 will also launch several WEf initiatives, which are aimed at accelerating the mission to net-zero emissions, the economic opportunity of nature-positive solutions, and cyber resilience. A diverse range of critical topics is also set for a launch over five days and they will be focused on bridging the vaccine manufacturing gap, strengthening the resilience of global value chains, building economies in fragile markets through humanitarian investing, and using data solutions to prepare for the next pandemic.
4. The WEF said that through a series of special addresses by G20 leaders, the Davos Agenda 2022 will provide crucial insights into a range of critical challenges. The sessions are expected to turn into a platform forging wider connections and engaging the global public in inclusive conversations. There would be sessions on energy transition, scaling up climate innovation and Latin America outlook.
5. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said, "Everyone hopes that in 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the crises that accompanied it, will finally begin to recede. But major global challenges await us, from climate change to rebuilding trust and social cohesion.” He further urged that leaders would be required to adopt new models and look at long term renew cooperations. They must also act systematically.
According to the WEF Agenda website, the virtual plenaries will be aligned with the annual meeting objective of “orienting global leaders on the imperatives of the year ahead”.
