The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced it is holding the 14th Annual Meeting of the “New Champions” in Tianjin, China, hoping to achieve a self-proclaimed “Summer Davos” for global elites.
According to WEF advance publicity, the June meeting “will gather over 1,500 global leaders from business, government, civil society, international organizations as well as from among innovators and academics, at a crucial time for the global economic recovery.”
The overarching theme of the event will be “‘Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy.” The WEF further states:
The global economy is at a pivotal moment of transformation. Established business and industry models have not only been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic but are now being tested by a more competitive geopolitical and geoeconomic environment.
How to navigate these developments and simultaneously accelerate progress on critical common goals, from energy transition to safeguarding nature and climate, is top of mind for decision-makers worldwide.
The dates of 27–29 June 2023 have been set aside for the meeting with the world’s economy the center of attention.
This is not the first time the WEF has warmly embraced China with the eastern city of Tianjin being the previous site for the forum.
File/Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) walks with Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2017. Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the WEF. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang via Getty)
File/Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, (L) talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on April, 16 in Beijing, China.(Naohiko Hatta-Pool/Getty Images)
In 2018 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang used the occasion to rail against “unilateralism” in a veiled allusion to the trade fight with the United States, and hinted at further opening of the world’s second largest economy before singling out the U.S. economy for special attention.