Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is preparing to lead a team of ministers and advisers to the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos, aiming to attract international backers and calm disquiet among domestic businesses.
Reeves, who attended Davos as shadow chancellor for the previous two years, is scheduled to meet sovereign wealth funds and US private equity firms in an effort to secure financing for large-scale infrastructure and green energy projects. She also intends to hold talks with British business leaders in attendance, amid ongoing frustration over last year’s increase in employer national insurance contributions.
“I’m going to be in Davos to tell some of the world’s biggest companies and investors that UK plc is burning bright,” she said. “I am on a mission to win round the world’s investors. That’s why I’ve already made progress on planning reform to get Britain building. And my plans for pension megafunds will unlock billions of pounds of investment for infrastructure projects and businesses of the future.”
Joining Reeves will be Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary; Baroness Gustafsson, the former chief executive of Darktrace who became minister for investment in October; and Varun Chandra, the prime minister’s special adviser on business and investment.
It is understood that Reeves plans to replicate last year’s efforts in Davos, where she met American technology founders in a gathering hosted by Andreessen Horowitz and spoke with European investors at a breakfast organised by JP Morgan. Other notable figures expected at this year’s summit include former prime minister Baroness May of Maidenhead and George Osborne, the ex-chancellor and now partner at Robey Warshaw.
Princess Beatrice is also set to attend, reportedly participating in a panel discussion on how family offices and sovereign wealth funds can deploy private capital to address climate change. She has been a regular attendee at Davos in recent years.
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Rachel Reeves to lead Davos 2025 delegation in bid to win over foreign investors