Premier Wen Jiabao of China will attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 28 January – 1 February 2009 and will address the participants in a special session on the first day of the Meeting.

The World Economic Forum has confirmed record attendance for the Meeting, with over 40 heads of state and government joining 1,200 business leaders. Participants from over 90 countries will also include experts, leaders from non-governmental organizations and trade unions, and the Young Global Leaders.

"China has become a global power whose cooperation is essential to relaunch global economic growth," said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. "We are therefore delighted that Premier Wen Jiabao will join us in Davos, together with other G20 leaders and over 1,200 business leaders, to work together to find ways out of the crisis and to shape a post-crisis world which is more adapted to the needs of the 21st century."

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will address the opening of the Annual Meeting. The programme for the Meeting, which is being held under the theme "Shaping the Post-Crisis World", has been structured to provide input into the present G20 process and to provide a platform to focus on the more general implications of the present crisis, in particular how economic growth can be relaunched, as well as the importance of addressing related issues, including the climate change debate. A special meeting of environment ministers will prepare for the Copenhagen agenda.

The substance of the programme will also be drawn from the conclusions of the Forum's first ever Summit on the Global Agenda, which was held in Dubai last month. The outcomes of the discussions from more than 700 of the best minds in 68 different fields have been integrated into the programme of the Annual Meeting.

By People's Daily Overseas Edition report Jia Zhencheng