Gilani to attend World Economic Forum summit at Davos

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will attend the annual summit of the World Economic Forum this week b

Published January 23, 2012 Updated January 23, 2012 02:00pm

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By Imad Uddin

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The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold meetings with world leaders who will gather at the Alpine Resort to deliberate upon the global economic issues.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the annual event in which 40 heads of state, 18 of the world's central bankers besides around 2,600 of the world's top political and business leaders are expected to participate.

The exclusive meeting of government and business leaders from all walks of life is held annually to foster debate on the world's most pressing problems.

Among those gathering in Europe's highest-altitude town from January 25 to 29 will be royalty from Saudi Arabia, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, billionaires like philanthropist George Soros, senior executives from Facebook, Google and other tech giants, and the leaders of countries including Germany, South Africa, Mexico, and the world's youngest nation, South Sudan.

Gilani is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the President of Swiss Confederation, Azerbaijan, Prime Minister of Denmark, the founder of the WEF Professor Klaus Schwab, President of Mexico, Prime Minister of Thailand, UN High Commissioner of Refugees Antonio Guterres, Director General World Health Organisation Margaret Chan, besides a meeting with the Microsoft Chief Bill Gates.

Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will accompany the Prime Minister, who will be arriving through a commercial flight.

Gilani would also participate in interactive session on "Adapting to Climate Risk" and share his experiences about Pakistan's experience of handling natural disasters and how to evolve a strategy to prepare for natural calamities.

He will also join the world leaders at an informal gathering of the world economic leaders, besides attending the session on "Defining the imperatives for 2012, and a Media Leaders Event.

Interviews with leading media organisations have also been lined up for the Prime Minister.

The meeting, whose theme is 'The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models' is taking place amidst the eurozone debt crisis and has a bearing for emerging economies.

The four sub-themes of the meet are 'Growth and Employment Models', 'Leadership and Innovation Models', 'Sustainability and Resource Models' and 'Social and Technological Models'.

The global leaders participating at the event include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

The public figures expected at the WEF meeting include Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and League of Arab States Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.

The WEF Annual Meeting 2012 would be co-chaired by Takeda Pharmaceutical CEO Yasuchika Hasegawa, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Cinepolis CEO Alejandro Ramirez, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser.

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