By DPA
Davos (Switzerland) : Up to 2,500 politicians, business leaders and heads of international organizations began arriving in the Swiss city of Davos Tuesday to discuss global economic issues amid record losses on the world’s stock markets.
India is once again sending a strong delegation of leading industrial figures and decision-makers, headed by Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram.
A total of 27 heads of state or government and 113 cabinet ministers, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fakuda, who is due to preside over the G8 summit in Japan in July, and China’s vice-premier Zeng Peiyan are due to gather at Europe’s highest city for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Bill Gates of Microsoft, Sir Howard Stringer, head of Sony Corporation, and E Neville Isdell, head of Coca Cola, are among the business leaders scheduled to participate.
They began arriving as stocks from Europe to Asia recorded massive slumps in response to growing fears of a US recession.
Climate change and its impact on future food and water scarcity are on the agenda at the Swiss ski resort, but the consequences of a US recession for global growth now look set to concentrate the minds of participants.
One focus will be whether the US is about to finally relinquish its role as global economic driver to emerging markets such as India and China.
The gathering is also set to provide a platform, on the fringes of the main event, for further discussion in the context of world trade talks, with the head of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy in attendance.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab at a meeting in Brussels Monday again stated their willingness to break the deadlock that has delayed conclusion of the discussions to liberalise global trade.