Jan. 21, 2010

The 40th anniversary of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, to be held January 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland, is a defining moment for world leaders as they meet under the theme “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild”. Over 2,500 leaders from more than 90 countries representing business, government, civil society, academia and culture will work together to address pressing challenges and future risks.

“Global multistakeholder cooperation lies at the heart of the Forum’s mission to improve the state of the world,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. He said: “We have to rethink our values – we are living together in a global society with many different cultures. We have to redesign our processes – how do we deal with the issues and challenges on the global agenda? And finally, we have to rebuild our institutions.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, will deliver the opening address. Among world leaders participating are from Africa: Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania, Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa; from the Americas: Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada (Chair, 2010 G8 Summit), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil and Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombia; from Asia: Lee Myung-Bak, President of the Republic of Korea (Chair, 2010 G20 Summit) and Li Keqiang, Executive Vice-Premier, State Council of the People’s Republic of China; and from Europe: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain.

Read the full WEF press release here