WEF to discuss multiple issues, including Ukraine crisis, in first offline meeting over two years

World Economic Forum to be held in person for the first time in two years

The World Economic Forum (WEF) will start today as the first offline meeting that gathers attendees from around the world in the Davos city of Switzerland over the past two years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the WEF annual meeting has not been held offline since January 2020, Interfax reports.

More than 2,000 people, including 50 heads of state, will reportedly take part in the four-day Davos forum this year, Interfax reports. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Iraqi President Barham Saleh, Polish leader Andrzej Duda, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, head of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino, and also NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg are expected to attend the event in person.

The agenda of the May meeting of the WEF is "History at a Tipping Point: Public Policy and Business Strategies." One of the central topics of the Davos Forum will be dedicated to the situation in Ukraine, in particular, the problems of migration and food security. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak at the forum via video meeting, and the forum will be personally visited by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Kyrylo Shevchenko, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and a group of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament).

According to WEF founder Klaus Schwab, the May meeting in Davos is the first summit where world leaders will meet in a new situation characterized by an emerging multipolar world as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and hostilities in Ukraine. Among the priority issues of the Davos Forum are also the strengthening of global and regional cooperation, the transition to a "green" economy, innovation in various industries and cybersecurity.