Trump to address World Economic Forum meeting in Davos via video

Donald Trump will address the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 20-24 via video for a gathering that will bring together some 3,000 diverse leaders, the WEF said Tuesday.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Community, will also participate in the gathering in the Swiss resort, which the WEF said is occurring in a "world shaped by geopolitical tensions, economic shifts, and technological advancement."

Trump is due to be sworn in as the 47th US president at the Capitol building in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20.

"Davos is unique in bringing together close to 3,000 decision-makers from governments, business, and civil society at the beginning of the year to address the challenges of a world in deep transformation," said Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the WEF Board of Trustees.

"Despite divergent positions and great uncertainties, the Annual Meeting 2025 will foster a spirit of cooperation and constructive optimism with the objective of shaping the forthcoming Intelligent Age in a more sustainable and inclusive way."

CHINA'S VICE-PREMIER

Ding Xuexiang, China's vice-premier; Olaf Scholz, Germany's federal chancellor; Javier Milei, president of Argentina; Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament; and Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, will also attend the WEF gathering as well as Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Switzerland is the host country for the WEF Annual Meeting, and the organization said that more than 350 governmental leaders are expected to participate this year, including 60 heads of state and government with "strong government representation from around the world."

The meeting theme is "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age," said the WEF.

More than 1,600 business leaders, including over 900 of the world's top CEOs, will also participate; over 120 are "Global Innovators, Tech Pioneers and Unicorns who are transforming industries."

More than 170 leaders from civil society and the social sector, labor unions, non-governmental organizations, religious and indigenous communities, experts, and heads of the world's leading universities, research institutions, and think tanks will participate in the meeting.

Heads of international organizations taking part include: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization; Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund; Mark Rutte, NATO secretary-general; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization chief and Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN Development Program.

Other leaders scheduled to participate according to the WEF are: Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister; Karin Keller-Sutter, 2025 president of the Swiss Confederation 2025; Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia's prime minister; Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan; Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the Bangladesh government; Alexander De Croo, Belgium's prime minister of Belgium; Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; leaders from Egypt, Iraq; Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, the Palestinian National Authority, Peru, Qatar Thailand, Vietnam and other nations.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Heads of international organizations taking part include Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization; Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Mark Rutte, Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

Heads of civil society organizations participating include David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee; Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; Luc Triangle, general secretary of International Trade Union Confederation; M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International; Comfort Ero, president of the International Crisis Group; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, president of the Association for Fulani Women; Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson, chancellor of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences, and other.

"By convening leaders from around the world and from different walks of life, the Annual Meeting provides a platform to share views and knowledge at a time of profound change for people and communities," said Mirek Dušek, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. "A core goal of our proceedings is to enable broad-based agency and solutions in the context of the new economy that seems to be emerging."