The list of world leaders who will not be present at WEF 2025 in Davos

LONDON — It’s that time of year when the great and the good gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

A slew of heads of state, politicians and business tycoons are expected to attend the four-day event in the Alpine resort – but what is perhaps more telling is which leaders are avoiding the forum.

While Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated as president of the United States on Monday, is expected to address the forum on Thursday via live video link, a number of key leaders will be completely absent from the event.

These include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian leader Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Among the industrialized countries of the Group of Seven (G7) – which includes the United States, Europe’s largest economies, Canada and Japan – the only head of state attending the summit in person is outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

According to the WEF, this year’s event – ​​the 55th annual forum, which will take place Monday through Thursday – will bring together nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries, with the gathering “demonstrating the crucial need for dialogue in an era of increasingly more uncertain.” It notes that 350 heads of government, including 60 heads of state and government, “will meet in Davos-Klosters to address pressing challenges and shape emerging opportunities.”

The theme of the event is “Collaboration for the Smart Age”, with an agenda focused on five key areas: reinventing growth, industries in the smart era, investing in people, safeguarding established heritage and restoring confidence.

However, not all world leaders will be there to discuss these issues.

“The leaders of Brazil, China, India, who gave the opening speeches 10 years ago, are no longer there. Russia has not been welcome for several years, Keir Starmer will not be Macron will not be there,” Jan Aart Scholte, professor of global transformations and governance challenges at Leiden University, told CNBC on Thursday.

“It’s true, the Spanish Prime Minister will be there and there are a few others, but the general image of the heads of state and government who are there is that they are not the big players. I think that if you pass by on the G20 list, there will be a small minority (who will participate),” he said.

Often, no official reason is given for the lack of participation in the WEF, but pressing domestic issues – ranging from slowing economic growth to political crises – are known to keep government leaders at home.

In recent years, there has also been some ambivalence about participating in an event accused of being elitist and out of touch with reality.

The forum has repeatedly stated that it provides a space where stakeholders from business, government, academia, civil society, media and the arts can “meet on a global, impartial and non-profit”.

These people, he says, “come together to find common ground and seize opportunities for positive change on major global issues.”

In a statement to CNBC on Monday, the WEF said that while it always values ​​the presence of key world leaders, “the impact of the Annual Meeting and its ability to spark meaningful dialogue and action is defined by the efforts collectives of a large and representative community.

This year’s program, the forum continues, “is designed to address the most pressing global challenges, including economic fragmentation, technological transformation and climate action.”

“We recognize that world leaders face a wide range of commitments and responsibilities, and their absence in no way diminishes our continued engagement with their respective governments and institutions throughout the year,” the WEF added.

A number of big names will still attend this year’s summit – an event that began in 1971 under the leadership of Klaus Schwab, who remained executive chairman until earlier this year.

Ding Xuexiang, Vice Premier of China, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Javier Milei, Prime Minister of Argentina and Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, are all scheduled to deliver speeches in Davos this week.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also be present, as well as the leaders of global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Sven Smit, senior partner at WEF strategic partner McKinsey & Company, said in online comments that it would be a priority for attendees to “understand what the leaders at Davos are thinking.”

“You can’t predict it entirely, there are themes that people suggest, they range from growth to sustainability, but what emerges as the theme of Davos is not entirely predictable and that’s what is interesting,” Smit said.

However, many of the Western institutions present have in recent years found themselves on the wrong side of anti-globalization efforts led by populist leaders like Trump and countries like Russia and China.

The WEF too has fallen victim to this anti-establishment trend, Scholte noted, and while the presence of leaders like Trump may not have been sought after in the past, it is now recognized that the world has changed.

“I don’t think the proponents of a liberal and open global economy speak with as much disdain, let’s say, about opposing forces and opinions as they might have done, say, before the global financial crisis,” he said. -he declared.

“I think there’s a little more modesty that, no, sometimes it doesn’t completely work. And no, we haven’t always taken enough into account those who feel excluded.”

Nevertheless, he stressed that the WEF remained attractive to many economic and political leaders.

“There are various indicators that a site like the World Economic Forum is not as strong a magnet as it might have been 20 or so years ago,” Scholte said. “But the idea that it’s no longer a magnet, and the idea that it also doesn’t have certain areas of global economic governance where it can still be very strong, I think that would be a mistake .”