Economic crisis and English referendum on EU membership. These are the themes at the center of the 43rd edition of the World Economic Forum which opens today in Switzerland. It will be the Italian premier Mario Monti who will kick off the proceedings with an inaugural speech entitled "Leading against the odds". The event will be opened not only by Monti, but also by the president of the Swiss Confederation Ueli Maurer and by Klaus Schwab, president and founder of the forum. The director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde will also speak.
Between tomorrow and Sunday 27 January, about 40 heads of state and government will be present, including the German Angela Merkel, the British David Cameron and the Russian Dmitri Medvedev, who assumed the presidency of the G20 at the beginning of the year. The presence of around 2500 business and political leaders is expected, including the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy, the president of the Central Bank Union Mario Draghi, the president of the Swiss National Bank Thomas Jordan.
The title of the edition is “Resilient Dynamism”, dynamism with resilience. “Dynamism and resilience must go together – said the president of the Forum, Klaus Schwab -. Leadership in 2013 will need both sides."
There are also many presences from Africa and large delegations are also expected from Asia. Many prominent industrial presences with the co-presidency of the Forum this year, among others, by the president of UBS, Axel Weber and that of Coca Cola, Muhtar Kent. Among the participations foreseen by Italy that of the president of Confindustria, Giorgio Squinzi, of the president and CEO of ENI, Giuseppe Recchi and Paolo Scaroni, of the CEO of Enel, Fulvio Conti, of the CEOs of Ferrovie dello Stato Mario Moretti, of Generali Mario Greco, of Intesa Enrico Cucchiani, and of the president of Geox Mario Moretti Polegato.
