The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting is set to take place on 23 to 26 January 2018, where the theme for the year will be creating a shared future in a fractured world.<\/p>\n
The 48th Annual Meeting in Davos,\u00a0Switzerland, will host 3,000 participants across all stakeholder groups including public & private sectors, civil society, academia, media, and arts & culture.<\/p>\n
“The global context has changed dramatically: geostrategic fissures have re-emerged on multiple fronts with wide-ranging political, economic and social consequences,” the group said.<\/p>\n
“Realpolitik is no longer just a relic of the Cold War. Economic prosperity and social cohesion are not one and the same. The global commons cannot protect or heal itself.<\/p>\n
“The 48th World Economic Forum annual meeting therefore aims to rededicate leaders from all walks of life to developing a shared narrative to improve the state of the world.”<\/p>\n
As at 12 January 2018, 58 South Africans have been confirmed as attending the meeting (down from 61 in 2017) including 45 business leaders, 7 government officials, 3 academics, and 3 members of the media.<\/p>\n
The South African government delegation will be led by new ANC president and current deputy president of the country, Cyril Ramaphosa, who will be joined by finance minister Malusi Gigaba; minister in the presidency, Jeff Radebe; minister of trade and industries, Rob Davies; as well as the ministers of economic development, public works and international relations.<\/p>\n
From the business sector, the same faces that have been attending the meeting for the last few years will again be working to sell a good South African story, including all the big banking CEOs, and executives from the mining and agricultural sector.<\/p>\n
The leadership teams from state-owned companies will also be in attendance.<\/p>\n
The list of attendees at the forum – particularly from government and state companies – are always of keen interest due to the high costs of attending the meeting, where all members must pay to participate.<\/p>\n
Aside from the membership costs to simply attend the WEF meeting, the resort town of Davos does not host delegates cheaply.<\/p>\n
Reports have pegged the total cost of attending the meeting anywhere between $20,000 to over $50,000 per delegate, which for South Africa’s government could push the attendance bill as high as R5 million.<\/p>\n
However, attendance is not without its merits, as demonstrated by former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, who used the opportunity to build business confidence in South Africa in 2017, at a time when the economy was rocked with uncertainty amid political volatility.<\/p>\n
This year, team South Africa, led by Ramaphosa, will try and turn global opinion of a junk status South Africa, by pushing a narrative of economic stability and policy certainty. At a meeting held on Thursday, the deputy president said that political uncertainty is no longer a problem in the country.<\/p>\n
South Africa is an attractive country, ripe for investment, he said – but he acknowledged that much work is still needed to reign in state-owned companies, and to deal with corruption.<\/p>\n
The tables below list all the South African leaders who will be attending the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this year:<\/p>\n
| Name<\/th>\n | Role<\/th>\n | Company<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Cyril Ramaphosa<\/td>\n | Deputy President<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jeff Radebe<\/td>\n | Minister in the Presidency<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nkosinathi Nhleko<\/td>\n | Minister of Public Works<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rob Davies<\/td>\n | Minister of Trade and Industry<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maite Nkoana Mashabane<\/td>\n | Minister of International Relations and Cooperation<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malusi Gigaba<\/td>\n | Minister of Finance<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ebrahim Patel<\/td>\n | Minister of Economic Development<\/td>\n | South African Government<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\nState-run groups<\/h3>\n
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