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Geostrategy Updated: 18 Jan 2018

Trump, Felipe VI, Macron… the world’s political and business leaders to gather at Davos 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed his attendance at this year’s annual World Economic Forum, which will kick off on January 23 at Davos, Switzerland. President Trump will share the spotlight with some 60 heads of state and government, and an ensemble of business leaders, scholars, artists and prominent figures from civil society. Together, they will seek to deliver on the meeting’s theme: “Creating a shared future in a fractured world.’ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump will deliver the event’s opening and closing speeches, respectively.

During the four-day event, other senior political leaders, including Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister of Italy; Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission; Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, will also address the gathering. A large group of high-ranking Latin American officials will attend, including Presidents Mauricio Macri of Argentina, Michel Temer of Brazil and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia.

Spain´s official delegation will be headed by King Felipe VI, who will be attending the Davos event for the first time. He will be accompanied by Minister of Economy and Finance Luis de Guindos, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfonso Dastis.

Politicians won´t be the only ones attending the Davos event. Leaders of a number of international organizations will also be on hand, among them U.N. Secretary General António Guterres; Ángel Gurría, Secretary General of the OCDE and Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank. The WEF Annual Meeting will also bring together many top-level business leaders. From Spain, BBVA Group Executive Chairman Francisco González and CEO Carlos Torres Vila have confirmed their attendance.

This year, 21% of the participants at Davos will be women, the highest proportion ever. More importantly, the meeting will be co-chaired by a group of distinguished women: Sharan Burrow, General-Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Fabiola Gianotti , Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); Isabelle Kocher , Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE Group; Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM Corporation; Chetna Sinha, Founder and President of the Mann Deshi Foundation and Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway.