THE TAOISEACH will take part in a panel discussion on the future of Europe with government leaders from Poland, Finland and Denmark at the World Economic Forum at the Swiss alpine resort of Davos next week.
On arrival in Davos next Wednesday evening, Enda Kenny will attend an opening reception hosted by founder and executive chairman of the forum Dr Klaus Schwab and his wife Hilde.
The following afternoon he will address the theme of Rebuilding Europe with a panel that includes European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, Finnish prime minister Jyrki Katainen, Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski and prime minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The panel will be chaired by Financial Timeseditor Lionel Barber.
On his third and final day at Davos, Mr Kenny will take part in a private session described as an “informal gathering of world economic leaders”.
This session will have as its theme Defining the Imperatives for 2012 and the issues covered are expected to include the turbulence in the euro zone, the world jobs crisis and market volatility.
Davos is the largest annual global gathering of senior business, political and economic figures. Prof Schwab initiated the Davos meetings in 1971 and is still the driving force behind the event.
The overall theme of the 2012 gathering is the Great Transformation: Shaping New Models, whereby leaders “return to their core purpose of defining what the future should look like, aligning stakeholders around that vision and inspiring their institutions to realise that vision”.
The Taoiseach is also scheduled to attend an investment conference hosted by former US president Bill Clinton in New York on February 9th, where he will be accompanied by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore.
On February 15th Mr Kenny will be back in New York to attend a dinner hosted by Senator Eamonn Coghlan, former world-champion athlete, to raise funds for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. US Open golf champion Graeme McDowell is also expected to attend.
The Taoiseach has also accepted an invitation to give an address the following day, on the role of political leadership in promoting economic recovery, to the John F Kennedy school of government at Harvard University.
Speaking at the Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin last October, Mr Clinton offered to help Ireland attract more foreign investment by hosting a gathering of US business leaders. “American companies now have two trillion dollars in cash reserves. You ought to target the companies that you know are rolling in dough,” he said.
