Demonstrations in Iran as well as the crisis in Gaza will be among the many topics addressed at next week's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
During a news conference previewing the event, WEF chief executive Borge Brende said there would be significant representation from the Arab world this year.
Mr Brende said that Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam would be joining the annual meeting, and for the first time, a delegation from Damascus, led by Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, would be taking part.
Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman will also be in attendance.
“We have strong delegations from Saudi Arabia, 10 ministers and also a very strong delegation from the UAE,” Mr Brende added.
“We're to look at what are the next steps for stabilising this region, and look to no further escalations.”
The theme of this year's meeting is “A Spirit of Dialogue”.
The Davos meeting is viewed as setting the global economic tone for the rest of the year, drawing government leaders, elected representatives, corporate executives, international bureaucrats, academics and entrepreneurs.
According to WEF organisers, a record 400 political leaders, including 65 heads of state and government, will be participating in the annual meeting.
Mr Brende said that the US would be bringing its largest delegation yet in the 56 years of the annual meeting's existence.
US President Donald Trump will be joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Steve Witkoff that is negotiating both the Ukraine file, and also Gaza,” Mr Brende explained, also mentioning Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was also involved in Gaza negotiations, might be in attendance.
Mr Trump is expected to speak on January 21.
With the US continuing to push for tariffs and taking more of a protectionist approach under Mr Trump, Mr Brende said that trade would be a hot topic next week.
He said despite all the talk about tariffs, there was reason for optimism.
“We have seen also that trade has been pretty resilient, it's like water, it finds its way,” he said before acknowledging that in some cases trade was becoming more bespoke and plurilateral.
“We collaborate differently than in the past.”
Since the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence has taken an increasingly prominent role during discussions at the WEF's annual meeting.
AI will be near the top of the agenda next week, and Mr Brende pointed out that Microsoft's chief Satya Nadella and Nvidia's chief Jensen Huang would be participating, among other technology executives and officials.
“Is a long list, so there will be also good opportunities to learn about where are the frontier technologies like AI are leading us,” he said.
