Backgrounder: World Economic Forum

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based non-governmental international organization committed to promoting the world's economic cooperation and exchanges.

The forum, initially known as the European Management Forum, was founded by Klaus M. Schwab, a business professor in Switzerland, in 1971.

In 1987, the European Management Forum changed its name to the World Economic Forum.

The foundation, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is also called "Davos Forum."

The forum, aimed at improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas, brings together top business leaders, international political leaders as well as selected intellectuals and experts.

With the international situation constantly changing, issues addressed by the forum have gone far beyond the scope of economy. Its agenda now includes the most pressing problems facing the world, ranging from political, military and security concerns to bilateral and regional issues.

The forum has more than 1,000 members currently, all of which are major companies driving the world economy forward. A typical member company is a global enterprise with more than 5 billion U.S. dollars in turnover, though the latter varies by industry and region.

The forum also forges strategic and industry partnerships with its selected members. It sponsors international economic seminars each year jointly with state governments or enterprises worldwide.

With an increasing global influence, the forum has been hailed as the "top-level non-governmental global economic forum."

It has also become the world's most important non-governmental gathering where international political leaders, business leaders as well as leaders of civil and social organizations could exchange views on global economic issues.

Some 2,500 people turned up at the annual Davos meeting on Jan.23-27, 2008. The participants included some 27 state or government leaders, over 110 ministers and many well-known business and political leaders.

Under the theme of "The Power of Collaborative Innovation," the2008 Davos Forum held discussions and debates on a variety of issues such as financial market turmoil, economic uncertainties, the climate change, energy situation and food security.

The forum invited the first Chinese delegation to Davos in 1979. In June 2006, the forum opened its regional office in Beijing.