From heads of state to policymakers and powerbrokers to global Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), nearly 3,000 high-level participants are descending on the Swiss town of Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, turning the town into the epicentre of debates shaping the global economy, geopolitics and the future of business.
Held under the theme A Spirit of Dialogue from 19 to 23 January 2026, the meeting comes at a time when global economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and technological disruption are testing international cooperation. The scale of the gathering underscores its significance, with around 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries expected, including roughly 400 senior political figures, about 65 heads of state and government, six of the G7’s leaders and close to 850 global CEOs.
WEF, in an official statement, noted that 400 government leaders are expected to attend this year, representing the highest level of government participation in the Annual Meeting’s history, including 55 ministers for economy and finance, 33 ministers for foreign affairs, 34 ministers for trade, commerce and industry and 11 Governors of central banks.
A major focus will be on the unprecedented speed of innovation and technological advancement with key voices from industry and academia present. The meeting will be accessible to the public with over 200 sessions live streamed.
“Dialogue is not a luxury in times of uncertainty; it is an urgent necessity. At a critical juncture for international cooperation - marked by profound geoeconomic and technological transformation - this year’s annual meeting will be one of our most consequential,” said Borge Brende, President and CEO, World Economic Forum.
The 2026 programme is structured around five core questions reflecting the world’s most urgent economic, social and technological fault lines, from navigating a more contested geopolitical order and unlocking new engines of growth, to investing in human capital, scaling innovation responsibly and building prosperity within planetary limits.
Key Attendees
Headlining this year’s gathering is the United States President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to address the forum on Wednesday, alongside key members of his administration including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff, as per the reports.
This year’s meeting unfolds against an unusually fraught geopolitical backdrop, with President Trump’s pronouncements and policy moves, spanning Venezuela, Greenland, Iran and a renewed push on tariffs, unsettling established alignments and reigniting questions over the future of leadership in the global order.
The high-profile roster also features French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Syrian President Ahmad Al Sharaa, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, underscoring Davos’ stature as a meeting ground for the world’s most powerful decision-makers.
Friedrich Merz, Federal Chancellor of Germany, He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China, Javier Milei, President of Argentina, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammed Mustafa, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority and Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel are among the key leaders attending the forum.
Heads Of International Organisations
The institutional heavyweights are equally prominent, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Bank Group President Ajay S Banga, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus among the key multilateral leaders in attendance.
They are joined by senior figures from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Telecommunication Union, the UN refugee agency and the Gulf Cooperation Council, reinforcing Davos’ role as a critical platform for global governance and cooperation.
Tech Titans
Around 1,700 business leaders, including close 850 of the world’s top CEOs and chairpersons from the World Economic Forum’s Members and Partners, will also participate. Almost 100 CEOs and chairpersons of unicorn companies and tech pioneers who are transforming industries and shaping the future or technology worldwide will be in attendance.
The technology and artificial intelligence landscape will be represented by a formidable line-up, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, Amazon’ Andy Jassy, Meta executive Dina Powell McCormick, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, Palantir’s Alex Karp, OpenAI’s Sarah Friar and historian Yuval Harari.
They are joined by a new generation of AI and robotics leaders such as Arthur Mensch of Mistral AI, Peggy Johnson of Agility Robotics, Bret Taylor of Sierra and executives from G42 and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, highlighting the sector’s growing influence on the Davos agenda. |
