MIDDLE EAST DECAMPS TO THE SWISS ALPS
Eight Arab heads of government or state at World Economic Forum
A record number of leaders, executives and philanthropists from the Middle East will be at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this year as countries in the region seek to use the gathering to further their national interests on the international stage.
US president Donald Trump and King Abdullah of Jordan are among 28 heads of state that will be at the event, held in the Swiss town of Davos since 1971 – the same year that the UAE was created. There will be eight heads of state or government from the Arab world at the four-day meeting, which starts tomorrow.
“We have most of the leaders of the Middle East joining us,” said Klaus Schwab, the founder of the forum, who will be among 232 Swiss-based attendees this year.
Forty heads of government are also attending this year’s forum, including India’s Narendra Modi and Theresa May, the British prime minister.
“We have indeed a record number of heads of state or government registered for the annual meeting,” said Georg Schmitt, the Wef’s head of corporate affairs.
It is not a result of the “Trump effect” however, said Mr Schmitt, as more than 60 had confirmed before the surprise announcement on January 10 that the American president would be attending this year.
There will be 222 attendees from the Middle East – 16 per cent more than last year and a 30 per cent rise compared with 2016. The interest from the Middle East and North Africa is partly the result of efforts within the Wef to build strong relationships in the region over recent years. The forum has held regular events in the region including in the UAE, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt.
Notable participants from the Middle East include Jordan’s Queen Rania, a Davos regular, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi and Lebanon’s Saad Hariri. The UAE will be sending a sizeable delegation, including the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, and the recently appointed Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Omar Al Olama.
Tunisia’s president, the 91-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi
will be the oldest person attending this year.
The organisers hope that the Middle East delegates will help to demonstrate that national interests and international concerns should be aligned, said Richard Samans, a member of the Wef governing board.
“There is nothing inherently contradictory between the national interest and international co-operation. We are helping through dialogue to get widening
understanding so that national interests find a community of interest,” he said.
The imperative of using the platform provided by Davos to assert their countries’ perspectives is keenly felt by Middle East states and other regional actors, said Adrian Monck, the Wef director. “That’s why our panels are filling up and lists are growing for every session,” he said. “There is no fear of not being heard.”
The Middle East respondents in the Wef’s annual global risks survey ranked fiscal crisis as their biggest concern, followed by environmental changes. This was followed in second place by an energy price shock and the effect of mass underemployment. That compares with the overall finding that globally, respondents were most worried about weapons of mass destruction followed by the environment.
Of the 2,926 people attending
the Davos meeting this year, 21 per cent are female, including all the co-chairs, such as the IMF’s Christine Lagarde and Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway.
The forum said it “works throughout the year to highlight the gender gap and develop strategies to help women achieve positions of senior leadership”.