01/22/2010

AP Press Release

AP to air live and moderate the closing debate at the Davos Forum

NEW YORK – The Associated Press will air live on Jan. 31 the closing debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as part of the news cooperative’s extensive coverage of the annual, five-day gathering.

The AP Davos Debate, offered live to APTN Direct subscribers, will be moderated by AP Senior Managing Editor Mike Oreskes.

Taking part in the session, entitled “A Roadmap for Sustainable Recovery,” will be four co-chairs of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010:

• Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank, Germany; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum; Chair of the Governors Meeting for Financial Services 2010;

• Azim H. Premji, Chairman, Wipro, India;

• Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank, United Kingdom;

• Ronald A. Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Aetna, USA;

• Patricia A. Woertz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), USA; Co-Chair of the Governors Meeting for Consumer Industries 2010.

The Davos Forum is scheduled from Wednesday, Jan. 27 to Sunday, Jan. 31. Senior Managing Editors Oreskes and John Daniszewski will be part of the AP team of journalists due to report on the 40th anniversary of the high-profile gathering of government and corporate leaders.

The AP writers, top editors, photographers and videographers will be attending debates, speeches, seminars and news conferences in Davos. They’ll be conducting interviews with a wide range of prominent newsmakers, continuing the tradition of scoring exclusive interviews with corporate leaders and government economic decision makers.

The Davos theme this year is “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild.” Event organizers expect some 2,500 participants, more than half coming from the business sector. Expected to attend are French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea and Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Ministers Stephen Harper of Canada and Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain. Organizers say they are among the more than 30 presidents and prime ministers who plan to attend the five-day meeting.

Emphasis will also be on the media. A discussion on the “growing influence of social networks” will feature CEOs from LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and others.

AP, which launched a Facebook page focusing on the Haiti earthquake (http://www.facebook.com/apnews), is planning to expand its page to include blogging and coverage of the events in Davos. AP is planning to solicit questions from the public to be posed at Davos, with answers provided on the AP page.

The Davos gathering is known as much for the buzz surrounding the glitter of its after-meeting events as its business functions and AP will be talking to the celebrities who attend as well.

Each morning, European time, AP will provide a preview in its daily digest of what stories will be offered that day.

Besides APTN’s live broadcast of the debate, the World Economic Forum will live stream the event on its portal. An extended highlights package will be available for customers of AP’s Global Video wire service within an hour of the debate’s conclusion.

About The AP
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Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720