The World Economic Forum announced today the Co-Chairs of its 48th annual meeting which will take place on 23-26 January 2018 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
The Forum, best known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubunden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland, brings together some 3,000 top business leaders, international political leaders, economists, and journalists annually for up to four days to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world.
The co-chairs taking a principal role in shaping the discussion at next year’s meeting are Sharan burrow, General-Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Belgium; Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland and Isabelle Kocher, Chief Executive Officer, ENGIE, France.
Also on the list are Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC; Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM Corporation, USA; Chetna Sinha, Founder and Chair, Mann Deshi Foundation, India and Ema Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway.
The Co-Chairs represent both the public and private sectors, international organizations, organized labour, academia and science as well as civil society and social entrepreneurship.
Last year’s co-chairs were Frans van Houten, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Philips; Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America; Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children International; Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; and documentary filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
The co-chairs will lend a strong voice to all parts of society, ensuring a multi-stakeholder approach to the programme and eventually the impact of the Annual Meeting 2018, according to WEF.
The meeting will explore the root causes of, and pragmatic solutions for, the manifold political, economic and social fractures facing global society today.
“Creating a shared future in a fractured world requires addressing issues on the global agenda in a holistic, interconnected and future-oriented way,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “Our Annual Meeting in Davos provides an exceptional platform for collaboration to create new, global initiatives”, he noted.
“It will be a uniquely multifaceted and in-depth Annual Meeting prepared by expert working groups that will also feature impactful geopolitical sessions, many of which will be viewed by millions of citizens worldwide throughout the year,” added Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum.
The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting brings together governments, international organizations, business, civil society, media, foremost experts and the young generation from all over the world, at the highest level and in representative ways. It engages some 50 heads of state and government, over 300 ministerial-level government participants, and business representation at the chief executive officer and chair level.
