Davos Summit kicks off in Switzerland after two years

The World Economic Forum (WEF), also known as the Davos Summit, will begin with the opening reception at 19.00.

Geoeconomic challenges of the multipolar world will be discussed in Davos
In the statement made by the WEF, it was stated that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address the participants via video conference in the special session to be held tomorrow.

In a statement to the AA correspondent, WEF officials stated that no official from Russia was invited to the Forum.

Officials noted that some Russian citizens working in international organizations and international media were not prevented from participating in the Forum.

The Forum, which was last held for the 50th time in January 2020 and also known as the Davos Summit, was postponed for two years in a row due to the Kovid-19 outbreak, and online meetings were held as an alternative.

It is expected that 50 state leaders, 300 government representatives and approximately 2,500 global business officials will attend the Forum, which was held outside of January for the first time in history.

The theme of this year's meeting of WEF, which will end on May 26, was determined as "Date at the turning point; Government policies and business world strategies".

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, European Union (EU) Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Belgium. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, Colombian President Ivan Duque, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are expected to attend.

Iraqi President Barham Salih, Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamed Al Sani are among other important names expected to attend the meeting.

An "Open Forum" will be held as part of the Summit.
As part of the summit, a side event under the title of "Open Forum" will be held open to the public on May 23-26.

The event was attended by the President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis, the Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko, the Afghan Education Institute (AIL) Senior Director Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate and US pharmaceutical company Moderna Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stephane Bancel will attend as speakers.

At the event, the effects of the Kovid-19 outbreak, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the role of multilateralism for peace in Europe will be discussed.

Is the WEF's goal to "heal the world" or "lobby out of sight"?
Davos Summit, which is held every year with the participation of the world's most powerful, famous and wealthy people, started to make an impact by turning into a forum that brings together about 3,000 world elites annually from the business world to finance, from politics to civil society. Davos has become an important place for business to exchange ideas and network.

While the WEF defines its purpose as "to improve the condition of the world", in recent years questions have begun to rise as to whether it has fulfilled this purpose.

In Europe, people's turn to leaders who develop populist and racist rhetoric and global trade wars raise questions about whether the organization has achieved its goal.

Critics of the WEF claim that the organization's meetings, including the Davos Summit, provide a safe space for large corporations to invest money and lobby governments out of sight.

Membership in the forum ranges from 60 thousand to 600 thousand dollars.
Some non-governmental organizations in Europe claim that the WEF is "totally dependent" on the nearly 1,000 companies that support its activities.

While standard membership to the WEF is announced as 60 thousand dollars (60 thousand Swiss francs), it costs the organization 600 thousand dollars for strategic partner membership. There is an extra fee of 27 thousand dollars to attend the Davos summit. In addition, it is noteworthy that hotel prices are extremely high during the summit.

There are also criticisms about the event that "the same people are called every year to talk about the same things and stay away from most people in the world".

There are those in the West who see the WEF's Davos meetings as "a family reunion of people who are disrupting the world order".

The supporters of WEF, on the other hand, argue that the organization fills the shortcomings of other international organizations, while on the other hand, leaders of the political and business world meet and discuss "good ideas for the people of the world".

The ideas evaluated at Davos, the speeches at the table and the promises made are not binding for governments.