[2] This annual conference revolves around debates gathering economic and political leaders, diplomats, representatives of civil society, experts and journalists from all over the world.
It aims at reflecting, debating, and offering constructive solutions to major regional and international issues, in an atmosphere of respect and tolerance.
Launched in 2008 by Thierry de Montbrial, the Chairman and Founder of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), the World Policy Conference (WPC) is the first effort to foster systematic reflection on organizing global governance[4] tailored to 21st century realities, bringing together the highest-level decision-makers, experts and opinion leaders.
The three meeting formats – namely, the plenary sessions,[2] workshops and lunch or dinner debates – are based on the concept of constructive public-private interaction at the highest level.
On this basis and in a warm and welcoming setting, all the conditions are met for participants to speak their mind freely, thereby creating a very high-level yet informal meeting-place.
[1][3] Among distinguished guests, one can quote: - Patrick Achi (Prime MInister of Côte d'Ivoire) - Masood Ahmed (Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department) - Martti Ahtisaari (Former President of the Republic of Finland)[12] - Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah (then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar) - Sheikh Abdullah bin Naser bin Khalifa Al-Thani (Prime Minister of the State of Qatar) - H.R.H.
Prince Turki Al-Faisal (President of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies)[13][14][15][16] - Yukiya Amano (Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency)[17] - Youssef Amrani (royal cabinet, Morocco)[18] - Yutaka Aso (President of Aso Group)[19] - Jean-Marc Ayrault (Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, France) - Robert Badinter (Former Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, France)[20] - Bertrand Badré (then Director-General and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank Group)[21] - Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations)[22][23] - Ehud Barak (Former Prime Minister of Israel)[12][16][24] - Sébastien Bazin (Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels) - Marek Belka (President of the National Bank of Poland)[25] - Charles-Edouard Bouée (CEO, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants)[26] - Nasser Bourita (Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) - Ana Brnabić (Prime Minister of Serbia) - Christian Bréchot (President of the Pasteur Institute)[27] - Didier Burkhalter (Federal Councilor, Chief of the federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAE), Switzerland)[3] - Korn Chatikavanij (Former Minister of Finances of Thailand) - Chey Tae-Won (Chairman, SK Group, Republic of Korea) - Nelson Cunningham (President, McLarty Associates)[28] - José Angel Cordova Villalobos ( then Minister of Health, Mexico)[29][30] - Amadou Gon Coulibaly (then Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire) - Ahmet Davutoglu (Former Prime Minister of Turkey) - Kemal Dervis (Vice-President of the Brookings Institution, Head of the Global Economy Department)[31] - Bozidar Djelic (Managing Director, in charge of Central and Eastern Europe, Lazard)[32] - Saeb Erekat (Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Palestine) - Heinz Fischer (President of the Republic of Austria)[2] - Fu Ying (then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Popular Republic of China)[33] - Cheikh Tidiane Gadio (President of IPS, Former Foreign Minister of Senegal) - Robert Gates (Former United States Secretary of Defense)[34][35] - Elisabeth Guigou (President of the French Commission of Foreign Affairs, French National Assembly)[36] - Abdullah Gül (then President of the Republic of Turkey)[2][16] - Angel Gurría (Secretary-General of the OECD)[37] - Richard Haass (President of Council on Foreign Relations (CFR))[38] - Han Seung-soo (Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea)[39][40] - Riad Hijab (Former Prime Minister, Syria) - Maria van der Hoeven (then Executive Director of the International Energy Agency) - Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (then Secretary-General of NATO)[41] - Mo Ibrahim (Founder and President, Mo Ibrahim Foundation) - Toomas Hendrik Ilves (President of the Republic of Estonia)[12] - Mugur Isarescu (Governor of the National Bank of Romania)[42] - Vuk Jeremic (President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD))[43] - Paul Kagame (President of Rwanda) - John Kerr (Member of the House of Lords) - Mari Kiviniemi (OECD Deputy Secretary-General)[44] - Haïm Korsia (Chief Rabbi of France)[45] - Haruhiko Kuroda (Governor of the Central Bank of Japan)[46] - Bruno Lafont (Co-Chairman, LafargeHolcim)[47] - Pascal Lamy (Former Director-General of the WTO)[48] - John Lipsky (Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS))[49] - Pauline Marois (then Premier of Quebec)[50] - Peter Maurer (President of the International Committee of the Red Cross) - Dmitri Medvedev (then President of the Russian Federation)[51] - H.S.H.