New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for India as a growth engine for global economy and a display of soft power - through yoga, cuisine and film personalities - the country is expected to be a formidable presence at the 48th World Economic Forum in Davos. PM Modi will address the opening plenary session, which will be attended by heads of 70 nations. India is attending the meet after 20 years. The other nation attending after a long gap - 17 years -- is the US. President Donald Trump will deliver the closing address, but the two leaders are not likely to meet.
Here are the top 10 things to know about Davos:
In a series of tweets, with the hashtag #IndiaMeansBusiness, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was looking forward to his visit to Davos and "sharing his vision for India's future engagement with the international community". "The existing and emerging challenges to the contemporary international system and global governance architecture deserve serious attention of leaders, governments, policy makers, corporates and civil societies around the world," another tweet read.
PM Modi, who will be present in Davos for a day, will deliver the opening address on Tuesday. Officials said he is expected to pitch India as an open economy that is ready for investments from across the world and a major engine to drive the global economic growth.
PM Modi, who is attending the Davos meet nearly 20 years since HD Deve Gowda in 1997, has said the world wants to hear "directly from the horse's mouth" about India's policies and growth potential. Over the last 21 years, the Indian economy has become the world's seventh largest, doubling to $2.3 trillion.
The Prime Minister will also interact with 120 members of World Economic Forum's international business community on Tuesday. He will also hold a roundtable dinner in which 40 global industry captains - including those from corporates like CEOs of Airbus, Hitachi, BAE Systems and IBM -- are expected to attend.
PM Modi, who will be accompanied by six union ministers - Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, MJ Akbar and Jitendra Singh - will also hold a bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset.
India's delegation of business leaders, led by top industry body Confederation of Indian Industry, will include Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Azim Premji, Rahul Bajaj, N Chandrasekaran, Chanda Kochhar, Uday Kotak and Ajay Singh.
India will also focus on displaying its soft powers. Two Yoga teachers will hold sessions through the meet on what officials have described as the "slopes of (Swiss) Alps".
India will also host the "welcome reception" for the members of the World Economic Forum, where the delegates are expected to get a taste of Indian cuisine
Bollywood icon Shahrukh Khan will be among the celebrities to receive the annual 'Crystal Awards' for his work towards improving the state of the world. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and legendary musician Elton John are also on the list. Mr Khan will be delivering a lecture about creating change in India through women empowerment.
The five-day meeting in Davos -- a mountain resort in Graubunden, in eastern Alps -- which begins on January 22, will be attended by nearly 3,000 world leaders from business, politics, art, academia and civil society. Among them will be 70 heads of state and heads of 38 major organisations such as the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. The theme of the meeting will be 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World'.
