Two days after he jetted into Switzerland, His Excellency Dr Lazarus Chakwera on Monday attended the official opening plenary session of the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) underway in the resort city of Davos.
President Chakwera has joined over 2500 global leaders at the annual forum which for the past two years was being held virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The opening session was presided over by Swiss President Ignazio Cassis and WEF founder Klaus Schwab, who both raised concerns over the impact of the Ukraine-Russian war in which has disturbed the social and economic order across the globe.
“This requires world leaders to come together and chart an equitable recovery path that leaves no region behind,” said President Cassis.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine delivered a keynote address in which he encouraged the delegates to use their time together in Davos to come up with practical solutions for the economic hardships the war has compounded worldwide.
In the afternoon, President Chakwera participated in a dialogue focusing on Building Economies in Fragile Markets, where the he proposed Malawi’s perspective as Chair of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
President Chakwera is also expected to meet President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to share notes on how best to grow the economies of the two countries hit hard by covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking on departure last Friday in Lilongwe, President Chakwera said there is a need for countries to discuss and find ways of dealing with challenges the world is currently going through.
The WEF summit will run up to Wednesday.