Rachel Reeves, the finance minister, 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 anxiety among local businesses.
Reeves, who has attended Davos as a shadow advisor for the past two years, is scheduled to meet US sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms in a bid to secure financing for large-scale infrastructure and green energy projects. She also intends to hold talks with senior British business leaders in attendance, amid ongoing frustration over the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions last year.
“I will be in Davos telling some of the biggest companies and investors in the world that British public companies shine,” she said. “I’m on a mission to attract investors around the world. That’s why I’ve already made progress in planning reform to build Britain. And my plans for massive pension funds will unlock billions of pounds of investment for infrastructure projects and businesses in the future.
Reeves will be joined by Jonathan Reynolds, Minister for Business; Baroness Gustafsson, the former CEO of Darktrace who became investment minister in October; and Varun Chandra, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Business and Investment.
Reeves is understood to be planning to repeat last year’s efforts in Davos, where she met US tech founders at a gathering hosted by Andreessen Horowitz and spoke to European investors at a breakfast organized by JPMorgan. Other notable figures expected at this year’s summit include former Prime Minister Baroness May of Maidenhead and George Osborne, a former chancellor and now partner at Ruby Warshaw.
Princess Beatrice is also scheduled to attend, where she will reportedly participate in a panel discussion on how family offices and sovereign wealth funds can deploy private capital to tackle climate change. She has been a regular presence in Davos in recent years.