US President George W Bush and Egyptain President Hosni Mubarak will open the three-day World Economic Forum on May 18 in Sharm El Sheikh, it was announced today.
More than 1,500 participants, including key heads of state and government, ministers, leading business figures and leaders from civil society and the media will take part in the meeting.
At a joint press conference of the World Economic Forum and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Egypt in Cairo, details of the meeting were released.
The meeting, which runs till May 20, will welcome leaders from more than 55 countries.
As well as holding talks with President Mubarak, President Bush will also have meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan. President Bush will fly to Egypt after visits to Saudi Arabia and to Israel.
The meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, held in partnership with the Government of Egypt, will have as its theme "Learning from the Future".
A key pillar of the programme focuses on a series of futuristic scenarios that explore the impact of long-term global trends on the Middle East. It is designed to highlight the actions that need to be taken today to meet the challenges and opportunities for the region in the next 20 years.
A second pillar will feature reinvented session formats that leverage collaboration, networking and interaction between global leaders. Participants will enjoy enhanced opportunities to interact directly with those excelling in their fields, gaining insight and forging partnerships through an exchange of ideas and practical experience. Sessions will also cover some of the latest “hot topics" such as food prices and sovereign wealth funds, and examine the exciting investment opportunities in the less well-known emerging economies of the region.
The Co-Chairs of the meeting are: Khalid Abdulla Janahi, chairman, Shamil Bank of Bahrain, Bahrain; Mohammed Alshaya, executive chairman, Alshaya Group, Kuwait; The Duke of York, UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment; Yuriko Koike, member of the House of Representatives, National Diet of Japan; Paul Rice, president and chief executive officer, TransFair, US; and Jimmy Wales, founder and chair emeritus, Wikia, US.
“The World Economic Forum has once again succeeded in bringing together the key global and regional leaders who can make a difference in this region. The forum’s unique ability to convene leading figures from politics, business and civil society makes it a platform where decisions are taken that will affect the region and beyond,” said André Schneider, managing director and chief operating officer, World Economic Forum.
“We know that business leaders remain engaged in helping to shape the region’s future – and alongside them there is huge momentum from young people to imagine and to try to construct a successful future for the Middle East. This is the place where the first steps on that journey can be taken,” he said.
“With only a few weeks to go, the countdown to Sharm El Sheikh has begun. It seems to me there has never been a more important time for the regional and international community to come together to try to ‘learn from the future’ while drawing on the important lessons of the past. In our own way, we all have to address the impact of broader global challenges on our communities. Our success will directly affect the sort of world we leave our children. The World Economic Forum's annual event on the Middle East provides an independent platform for leaders from around the world to come together to discuss what can be done, today, to create a better and more prosperous world for generations to come,” said Rachid M Rachid, Minister of Trade and Industry of Egypt.
Led by a strong delegation from Egypt headed by President Hosni Mubarak and the First Lady of Egypt Suzanne Mubarak, Prime Minister Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid M. Rachid and Minister of Finance Youssuf Boutros-Ghali along with several other key cabinet members will participate.
Heads of state or government who have already confirmed their participation are President George W. Bush of the US; King Abdullah of Jordan; President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan; Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian National Authority; Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar; Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al Ahmad Al Sabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait; President Valdis Zatlers of Latvia; President Danilo Türk of Slovenia; and Shimon Peres, President of Israel.
Other prominent figures include: Tony Blair, Middle East Quartet Envoy, United Nations; Mohamed M ElBaradei, director-general, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna; Peter Mandelson, commissioner, trade, European Commission, Brussels; Amre Moussa, secretary-general, Arab League, Cairo; Gamal H Mubarak, assistant secretary-general and head, Policy Secretariat, National Democratic Party (NDP), Egypt; Barham Salih, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq; Tzipi Livni, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel; Josette Sheeran; Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Rome; Achim Steiner; Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi; Alexander Saltanov, Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Minister for Middle East and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Abdullah Ahmed Zainal Alireza, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia; Pascal Lamy, Director-General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva; Ali Babacan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Negotiator of Turkey; Mohamed Bin Dhaen Al Hamli, Minister of Energy of the United Arab Emirates; Susan Schwab, US Trade Representative; and Robert B Zoellick, President of the World Bank, Washington DC. -TradeArabia News Service