Since the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, opened on the same day as Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president in the USA, the news coverage of the WEF annual meeting 2025 under the theme 'Collaboration in the Intelligent Age' was less than it otherwise would have been.

As the election in Belarus is labelled a “sham”, Hanna Liubakova joins Emma Nelson to discuss what lies ahead for Alexander Lukashenko and the country.

The comprehensive diary lists significant political, economic, and diplomatic events from around the world. Highlights include visits from key leaders, important meetings at the World Economic Forum,

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of playing games with the West by drip-feeding releases of political prisoners ahead of an election on Sunday in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is all but certain to extend his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s election that is rejected by the opposition as a farce after years of sweeping repressions.

President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, has been making signs of reaching out to the West. He is all but certain to win an election on Sunday.

A close ally of Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko has been nicknamed Europe’s last dictator, and has brutally cracked down on opposition figures and made the country a key staging ground for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Among the many dissident leaders now in exile is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband remains in prison in Belarus.

Participation in the presidential election has an impact on Belarus' economic growth, Director of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Denis Mukha told BelTA at the Central Election Commission Information Center on 26 January.

The 55 th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum opened this week with a powerful message and all-encompassing themes. Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, global leaders, leaving no doubt about his message: the undeniable need for, in Schwab’s words, Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.

The World Economic Forum, colloquially called "Davos" after the location at which it's hosted in the Swiss mountains, is a yearly meeting of elites.

Latest stories about World Economic Forum on Business Insider