Varadkar and McGrath to attend Davos as global recession hangs over gathering

Taoiseach Leo Varadker and Minister for Finance Michael McGrath are set to travel to Davos for the 53rd World Economic Forum (WEF) next week as global political and business leaders fret about the risks of a global recession this year.

Borge Brende, president of the WEF, said on Tuesday that the return of the WEF in winter for the first time in three years takes place against the “most complex geopolitical and geoeconomic backdrop in decades”, as the world grapples with soaring inflation and the Ukraine war continues.

Asked by reporters at a virtual news conference on the overriding focus of the forum, Mr Brenda said it should be on agreeing a “global growth agenda” to avoid a recession, with its consequences for jobs and prosperity.

“The annual meeting at Davos wants to make sure that leaders do not remain trapped in a crisis mindset,” WEF founder Klaus Schwab told the press briefing. “Only personal interaction creates the necessary level of trust which we need so much in our fragmented and fractured world.”

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Mr Varadkar joins thirty European heads of states and governments attending the WEF, while Mr McGrath will be among 56 finance ministers from around the globe, according to organisers of the event, which will play host to more than 2,700 politicians, business leaders, academics and officials from international organisations.

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German chancellor Olaf Scholz will top the list of political figures heading to the Swiss Alpine town next week. While US president Joe Biden will not be in attendance, his special climate envoy John Kerry will lead a delegation of senior officials travelling from Washington.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to downgrade its global economic forecasts during the WEF next week. The fund currently predicts that the global growth will slow to from 3.2 per cent in 2022 to 2.7 per cent this year – and that one-third of the world economy will contract.

Among the nineteen central bankers attending will be European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde.

Mr Brende said that “a high-level Ukrainian delegation” will also participate in the WEF, adding that he could not disclose the main participants from that country at this stage due to security concerns.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s virtual address of the WEF last May, after a planned gathering was postponed due to the pandemic, was one the highlights of the last forum.