Cologny, Switzerland - Switzerland is turning its mountain resort Davos into a fortress, deploying 5 000 soldiers, 1 000 police officers, explosives experts, snipers, helicopters and fighter jets to protect the World Economic Forum (WEF) starting on Wednesday.
“The attacks in Paris last November present a new type of threat for the WEF and call for new measures,” Swiss police commander Walter Schlegel recently told the daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
The increased risks will not deter the 2 500 leading politicians, UN executives, heads of major corporations, NGO leaders and artists from flocking to the Swiss ski resort for their annual four-day gathering.
This year's attendees include US Vice-President John Biden, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Hollywood royalty Leonardo DiCaprio and Kevin Spacey, as well as the chiefs of US retail giant Walmart, energy group Royal Dutch Shell and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest lender.
Germany will be represented by President Joachim Gauck this year instead of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who cancelled her attendance in November.
Germany's and Europe's refugee crisis is set to be one of the main topics of this year's speeches, panels and informal fireside discussions in Davos.
Delegates will even get a chance to experience for themselves what it feels like to run from violence, by taking part in A Day in the Life of a Refugee, a simulation game involving actual refugees and aid workers.
The Syrian conflict was already high on the agenda in Davos at last year's meeting, but the outflow of refugees had not yet registered so prominently in the discussions.
Since then, more than 1 million refugees have arrived in Europe last year, exposing the European Union's disunity in the face of major crises.
World Economic Forum founder and chief Klaus Schwab said there would be “private sessions” on how to end the Syrian war. In the week following the Davos conference, Syrian government and opposition representatives are expected to meet for peace talks in Geneva.
Wider regional tensions between rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, which have conflicting interests in the Syria and Yemen conflicts, are also set to receive much attention in Davos, as both Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir are set to attend.
Besides Middle Eastern crises, terrorism and migration, delegates are expected to discuss the festering Ukraine conflict, Russia's geopolitical role, and the tensions over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
The Davos organisers said on Wednesday that they had revoked their invitation to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong at the last minute, in reaction to Pyongyang's nuclear test last week.
Economic issues on this year's agenda include worries about the Chinese economy, which has sent shockwaves through financial markets, the slowdown in global trade, the eurozone's loose monetary policy, and the ongoing risk of Greek bankruptcy.
However, Schwab said the most important economic topic would be the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, that comes on the heels of the digital revolution.
The term, coined by the German government, encompasses artificial intelligence, increasing automatisation of factories and cars, as well as developments that break down the boundaries between humans and the technology they use.
“We feel we are not yet prepared sufficiently for this Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will come over us like a tsunami,” Schwab told reporters ahead of the Davos meeting.
Schwab wrote in a commentary that these transformations would lead to cheaper and more efficient production and transport.
At the same time, they could cause social tensions as labour markets become increasingly divided between highly-skilled jobs with good pay and very low-level jobs, Schwab said.
ANA-DPA