27 October 2008 : People's Daily
For the first time ever, the World Economic Forum will bring together 700 of the most innovative and relevant minds – leaders from academia, business, government and civil society – to address some of the most pressing issues on the global agenda. The Government of Dubai will host this historic meeting, the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda, from 7 to 9 November 2008. In all, there will be 68 Global Agenda Councils represented at the Summit, each bringing together the finest minds in its sector to propose solutions to the key issues and help shape a post-crisis world.
"The current financial crisis is in the process of profoundly transforming the economic, business and political landscape of the future. The unfolding global transformation is ushering a much needed reflection of how to shape the post-crisis world and how to strengthen and improve global, industry and corporate governance. To reflect this enormous responsibility and opportunity, ‘Shaping the Post-Crisis World’ is also the theme of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in 2009. The deliberations of this meeting will underpin debate next year at Davos and help us construct solution to the global problems we face," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
"Dubai hosting the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda is a testament to the United Arab Emirates’ association with innovation and breakthrough thinking. We will be working jointly with the World Economic Forum in developing this Summit and reinforcing its global significance," said Mohamed Alabbar, the Co-Chair of the Summit.
Some of the leading experts who will be at the meeting are: Bertie Ahren, (1997-2008) Prime Minister of Ireland; Ana P. Botin, Member of the Board, Group Santander, Spain; Laura M. Cha, Deputy Chair, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hong Kong SAR; Cheng Siwei, President, China Association for Soft Science Studies, People’s Republic of China; John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), United Kingdom; Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom; Robert Engle, Professor of Finance, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, USA; Richard B. Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto Alcan, Canada; Mo Ibrahim, Chairman, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Kingdom; Alexander V. Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer, AO VimpelCom, Russian Federation; Yuriko Koike, Member of House of Representatives, Japan; Graça Machel, Chairperson, Foundation for Community Development (FDC) Mozambique; Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore; Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Cenral Bank of Bahrain; Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, League of Arab States, Cairo; Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India; Kenneth Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics, Harvard University, USA; Nouriel Roubini, Chairman, Roubini Global Economics Monitor, USA; and Elie Wiesel, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Boston University, USA.
Global Agenda Councils – To further its mission and strategic vision, the World Economic Forum has created the Global Agenda Councils, which are multistakeholder groups of the most innovative and relevant minds, for the purpose of advancing knowledge and collaboratively exploring actions to the most important issues in the global arena.
By Jia Zhencheng, reporter of People's Daily Overseas Edition
