By Representatives of governments and international organisations, billionaires, entrepreneurs, experts, academics, NGOs and press corps are once again descending on the Graubunden winter sports resort in Davos, Switzerland.
Under the motto “Rebuilding Trust”, the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) will start on January 15, aiming to discuss “the basic principles of trust” – transparency, coherence and responsibility.
But the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as from new conflicts around the globe may make it difficult to rebuild trust in institutions. And these days, the relevance of the WEF itself is often up for debate.
High-level attendees at the annual gathering have thinned in recent years with key names like US President Joe Biden missing. In 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the only leader of a G7 country who attended.
“Leaders do not lose interest in forums such as the WEF, but they do make strategic decisions about whether it would be beneficial to attend the meeting each year,” Peter Willetts, emeritus professor of global politics at City, University of London, said.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to rally support for Ukraine, which will probably mean the Russians will send a low-level political delegation.”
Willetts added that the US is expected to send a delegation comprising Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry – President Joe Biden’s top negotiator on climate change.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani are also expected to attend.
“The WEF’s approach to addressing issues is guided by … ‘multi-stakeholder governance’, which means that the world’s problems are best tackled by the diverse stakeholders that are impacted by them,” Jack Copley, assistant professor in international political economy at Durham University, told Al Jazeera.
The basis of the WEF’s activity is therefore providing an arena for liaison and discussion between some of the world’s most important decision-makers.
“The WEF has certainly been a major force promoting ideas of public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaboration in response to global challenges,” Jan Aart Scholte, professor of global transformations and governance challenges at Leiden University, told Al Jazeera.
The real value of the event lies in this focus on networking and the accumulation of knowledge, which it has helped facilitate, albeit perhaps not to the standards it often claims.
“Like all political forums, the World Economic [Forum] states its goals in overoptimistic, general terms,” Willetts noted. “That said, it has been a useful forum for some global leaders to have … informal, one-to-one discussions outside the meetings.
