World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is an international institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation. It engages political, business, academic and other leaders of society in collaborative efforts to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Together with other stakeholders, it works to define challenges, solutions and actions, always in the spirit of global citizenship. It also serves and builds sustained communities through an integrated concept of high-level meetings, research networks, task forces and digital collaboration. It was established by Professor Klaus Schwab in 1971 as a not-for-profit Foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests, working in close cooperation with all major international organisations. It aims to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Captains of industry and government will travel up a Swiss mountain this week for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos with one hefty task on their minds: how to make the world a better place. Dozens of heads of state and 2,500 business leaders, along with cultural emissaries and experts from across the entire field of human endeavor, will pile into the Alpine ski town — population 11,142 — for five days of intense workshops, speeches and fast-and-furious networking starting Tuesday night. Ahead of the start of its annual meeting in Davos on Tuesday, the WEFpublished 14 measures of inclusive growth as it responded to criticism that the gathering of 2,500 business leaders, academic and policymakers has become an exercise in hand-wringing about the gap between rich and poor.

The Forum said there was a need to make the discussions about tackling inequality “less vaguely aspirational” in a policy paper that has co-incided with new research from Oxfam showing that on current trends the richest 1% of the world’s population will by next year own more wealth than the other 99%. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is expected to unveil "his vision" for his state at World Economic Forum' Annual Meeting here that would see the participation of noted policy-makers and corporate leaders from across the world.