Speakers at a seminar held in Dhaka on January 21 urged the representatives of Bangladesh to safeguard the interests of the LDCs in World Economic Forum. Bangladesh will attend the meeting as the coordinator of the least developed countries (LDCs). The speakers also stressed the need for upholding the interests of the 32 LDCs through a combined approach. The demands of the LDCs should be for full agricultural and labour market access.

The Forum’s founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, said the 2,400 participants, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, must cast their eye beyond the growing world economy and the boom in emerging nations. “I feel we are living in a schizophrenic world,” Schwab told journalists. “There is a good feeling about where we are but underneath there are so many risks, uncertainties and challenges,” he said.

Blair is due to close the meeting late next Saturday, just hours after about 30 key trade ministers, including officials from the EU, United States, Brazil and India, hold a meeting with World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy on the sidelines of the Forum in Davos.

Lamy has already urged the informal mini-ministerial to sketch out the way ahead in a crucial year for the deadlocked talks between 150 nations on expanding free trade in agriculture, industry and services.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora are among the 24 heads of government due in the meet.

The Forum is expecting about 800 chief executives or company directors in Davos.