The top diplomats of Iran and the United States will sit down for separate and public one-on-one chats while the U.N. chief and leaders of France, Argentina and Spain will deliver speeches on the second day of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting January 17.
The elite gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos will also seek to address environmental and climate concerns even as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the world to come together and take more united action against global warming, after a record-hot year in 2023.
Experts and policymakers will take up issues like ensuring a sustainable West Asia and North Africa, cracking down on plastic waste and searching for ways to maintain life on Earth, amid growing threats to biodiversity.
French President Emmanuel Macron, recently reappointed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Argentina's new president — self-described “anarcho-capitalist" Javier Milei — will take the podium on Jan. 17 afternoon, after a morning address by Guterres.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after a day of meetings Monday including one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is scheduled for a broadcast conversation with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian will speak with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
On Tuesday, U.S. forces led a new strike against Iran-backed Houthis rebels in Yemen who have been troubling Red Sea shipping lanes in recent weeks by firing missiles against vessels off the coast of the impoverished and divided West Asian country. It came hours after one missile strike earlier on Jan. 16 hit a U.S. vessel.
The Yemeni rebels have carried out the campaign in response to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group carried out a murderous rampage in Israel and seized hostages.
On Jan, 16, Ukraine President Volodymyr shuttled from room to room, meeting CEOs, financiers and political leaders and made a speech blasting his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow's long-running military campaign in Ukraine and seeking more Western support when Ukraine's allies are showing signs of war fatigue. “Please, strengthen our economy, and we will strengthen your security,” the Ukrainian leader said.
