WEF/Annual Meeting

WEF/Annual Meeting (meeting)
Start	1971
Subpage(s)	•WEF/Annual Meeting/1973 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1979 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1980 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1981 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1982 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1983 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1984 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1985 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1986 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1987 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1988 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1989 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1990 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1991 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1992 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1993 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1994 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1995 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1996 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1997 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1998 •WEF/Annual Meeting/1999 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2000 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2001 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2002 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2003 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2004 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2005 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2006 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2007 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2008 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2009 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2010 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2011 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2012 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2013 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2014 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2015 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2016 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2017 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2018 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2019 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2020 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2022 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2023 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2024 •WEF/Annual Meeting/2025 •WEF/Annual Meeting/Guests •WEF/Annual Meeting/Premature deaths
Annual Meetings are generally in Davos, Switzerland, attended by about 2200 people

The WEF is in the habit of holding Annual Meetings, which take place in Davos, Switzerland. On the occasion of the 50^th such meeting, the group wrote that "'The spirit of Davos' is an attitude of openness and cooperation that sets the tone for the annual meeting to this day".

Guests

Full article: WEF/Annual Meeting/Guests

The WEF's "spirit of Davos" does not seem to extend as far as publishing the guest lists of their AGMs, and so the lists of meetings and guests here are far from complete, although attendance lists of recent meetings have found their way into the public domain.

Currently just 47 WEF AGMs listed here, with a total of 14655 guests.

Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders

Starting in 1982, inside the Annual Meetings, the Forum held it first Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL). This closed-door, off-the-record meeting allows for informal dialogue, permitting participants to get to know each another, exchange ideas and work on ongoing issues and problems without having to produce a communiqué, treaty, press statement or any other document at its conclusion. According to the WEF "IGWEL remains enormously attractive to participants as the only global framework for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and opinions of government leaders and heads of international organizations."

Gro Harlem Brundtland wrote how:

One of the least known, but most influential meetings at the Annual Meeting is the IGWEL, or the Informal Group of World Economic Leaders. It is a private assembly of heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, heads of international organizations and other invited persons. IGWEL holds three informal sessions during the course of the meeting and sets its own agenda. As every year, the Rapporteur summarizes the discussions for the press....Within the Informal Group, some warned against the concept of global governance because it could easily be misinterpreted.

Escort services

Prostitutes have a surge in business during the time of the meeting; an online service for paid sex was completely booked in 2023. The co-founder of the site, Titt4Tat, said that alcohol and parties contribute to the high demand for his service. Some participants also book escorts for themselves and their employees to party in the hotel suite.

Security

Military protection

Up to 5000 soldiers from the Swiss army are ordered to protect the event. Security of the airspace is coordinated with Italy and Austria and the Airforce provides airlifting of "persons protected under international law". 2,55 million Franks were paid by the Swiss state for each event from 2022 till 24.

 

Examples

Page name	Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/1973	Aurelio Peccei delivered a speech summarizing The Limits to Growth, a book that had been commissioned by the Club of Rome.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1979	his was the beginning of a long relationship between the Forum and China, which has included official Chinese participation at Davos every year since.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1980	the Forum awarded Henry Kissinger a prize created to mark its first decade. Klaus Schwab had first met when he had been a student at Harvard in 1966 and regarded as a mentor.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1981	450 Europeans gathered in Davos to listen to lectures, talk business and do some skiing
WEF/Annual Meeting/1982	The most important innovation introduced at this year's Symposium was the holding of the first Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders. This closed-door, off-the-record meeting allows for informal dialogue, permitting participants to work on ongoing issues without having to produce a communiqué, treaty, press statement or any other document at its conclusion.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1983	By 1983, the European Management Symposium had become, as Klaus Schwab put it in his opening address, "the foremost annual gathering of decision-makers of the world economy."
WEF/Annual Meeting/1984
WEF/Annual Meeting/1985	"Given the prominence today of environmental protection on the global agenda, it is interesting to note that this was already a priority for business leaders at Davos."
WEF/Annual Meeting/1986	The 1986 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
WEF/Annual Meeting/1987	Included the first official delegation to Davos from the Soviet Union
WEF/Annual Meeting/1988
WEF/Annual Meeting/1989	This year, the Forum adopted a new motto – "entrepreneurship in the global public interest"
WEF/Annual Meeting/1990	Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 1990.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1991	Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 1991.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1992	The ANC had stood for the nationalization of banks, mines and certain strategic industries, but after meeting the Davos crowd, Nelson Mandela reconsidered. “They changed my views altogether". In 1992, the Forum also launched a new community, the Global Leaders for Tomorrow.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1993	Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 1993.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1994	Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 1994.
WEF/Annual Meeting/1995	On occasion of the 25th anniversary of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab published a book musing on "Ensuring sustainability in an overpopulated world".
WEF/Annual Meeting/1996	"As globalization goes on deploying its impact, innovative policies that help contain the mounting backlash against it are urgently needed," warned Klaus Schwab
WEF/Annual Meeting/1997	Harvard University political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, who died in 2008, is credited with coining the term "Davos Man" to refer to what he regarded as a global elite, a minority, who "have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite’s global operations."
WEF/Annual Meeting/1998	At Davos, reforming the global financial system was the main concern in the Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders
WEF/Annual Meeting/1999	In the run-up to the Annual Meeting, which had as its theme "Responsible Globality", United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Klaus Schwab were in discussions about how to rally participants to support a global effort to support sustainability and responsible business practices". This was the genesis of the UN Global Compact,
WEF/Annual Meeting/2000	At the Annual Meeting 2000, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was born.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2001	Held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2001.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2002	The World Economic Forum held its Annual Meeting in New York to show solidarity with the United States and the people of the city after 9/11.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2003	Held in Davos, Switzerland in February 2003.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2004	2068 billionaires, CEOs and their politicians and "civil society" leaders met under the slogan Partnering for Prosperity and Security. "We have the people who matter," said World Economic Forum Co-Chief Executive Officer José María Figueres.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2005
WEF/Annual Meeting/2006	Both former US president Bill Clinton and Bill Gates pushed for public-private partnerships. Only a few of the over 2000 participants are known.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2007	Only the 450 public figures listed of ~2200 participants
WEF/Annual Meeting/2008	At the 2008 summit, Klaus Schwab called for a coordinated approach, where different 'stakeholders' collaborate across geographical, industrial, political and cultural boundaries."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2009	Chairman Klaus Schwab outlined five objectives driving the Forum’s efforts to shape the global agenda, including letting the banks that caused the 2008 economic crisis keep writing the rules, the climate change agenda, over-national government structures, taking control over businesses with the stakeholder agenda, and a "new charter for the global economic order".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2010	The organizing theme for the 40th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2010 was "Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign and Rebuild."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2011	2229 guests in Davos, with the theme: "Shared Norms for the New Reality".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2012	2113 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2014	2603 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2015	Attended by a lot of people. This page lists only the 261 "Public Figures".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2016	Attended by over 2500 people, both leaders and followers, who were explained how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would changed everything, including being a "revolution of values".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2017	2952 known participants, including prominently Bill Gates. "Offers a platform for the most effective and engaged leaders to achieve common goals for greater societal leadership."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2018	~2200 of the super-rich meet to talk about "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	"The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2020	This mega-summit of the world's ruling class and their political and media appendages happens every year, but 2020 was special, as the continuous corporate media coverage of COVID-19 started more or less from one day to the next on 20/21 January 2020, coinciding with the start of the meeting.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2022	1911 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2023	The theme of the meeting was "Cooperation in a Fragmented World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2024	The theme for the invited "stakeholders" was "rebuilding trust in the international system". Who exactly were are to trust remains a secret, as 95% of the participants were not disclosed.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2025

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