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Which way in Davos for the world economy. © 2010 World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Michael Wuertenberg

Davos, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Economic Forum (WEF) runs from 27-31 January in the snowy Swiss resort of Davos, and, ostensibly, the leaders will be discussing the state of the world and ways to improve it. Behind the scenes, they will be networking.

It isn’t every day that so many movers and shakers come together  in one place.

The WEF is dedicated to bringing together the “world’s business and political leaders. . . to discuss the issues facing the world today.” It aims to bridge cultures and countries, and bring the best minds and experts to “allow leaders to make decisions that can bring about change for the better,” the Geneva-based non-profit group says on its web site.

World Economic Forum facts and figures

Who is coming

More than 250 public figures are attending: more than 30 heads of state or government, almost 60 ministers, 12 central bank chiefs, over 50 heads or top officials of international organizations, according to the WEF. Also attending are leaders of NGOs, churches and academia, as well as the media. The WEF is sad to report that women  make up only 15 percent of those attending, but it blames this on the restricted pool of women in positions of influence in the world.

The theme of this year’s meeting in Davos, the 40th, is to “rethink, reshape and rebuild” the world. The 2010 event is pulling in 2,500 people from more than 90 countries, of whom 1,400 are leaders of the 1,000 leading companies of the world, which are members of the WEF. The African Development Bank, a major regional lender, is for example sending an important delegation to Davos to discuss infrastructure in Africa and ways of “rethinking growth policies in Africa.”

Meetings on the margins

Members of the Swiss government have been taking advantage of the concentration of foreign leaders to meet their counterparts. Doris Leuthard and Hans-Rudolf Merz met France’s Nicolas Sarkozy 27 January to straighten out their differences concerning the theft of client data from HSBC bank. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey met several visiting foreign ministers, many of them from Arab countries, on the opening day.

What else does the WEF do

The Geneva-based group is best known for the huge annual meeting in Davos, but this is only one of its activities. Regional summits are an “occasion for leaders to outline major challenges and define strategies to address them.” The WEF also conducts economic research, and its global competitiveness programme (GCP) tries to identify the impediments to sustainable economic growth, which reduces poverty.

Talking about Davos:

What Davos does “is bring the world together to take its pulse. The world’s not been in for a checkup for a while. At this year’s Davos, it’s going to be very surprised at what it sees.” (Ian Bremmer, author of The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?)

“This little village in the Alps gets top leaders to raise their eyes above their in-boxes and spend even a little time on global and humanitarian issues.” (Joseph Nye, former dean, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

Links to other sites: World Economic Forum factsheet, NZZ special on the WEF, Wall Street Journal