Russia will be represented at the five-day World Economic Forum in Davos by Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, and the heads of Russia's two largest financial institutions - Sberbank CEO German Gref and VTB Group President Andrei Kostiny.
Despite broadly optimistic predictions from the forum's participants last year on the global economy, the 2,500 attendees will this year be discussing ways of averting a major downturn on the world's stock markets sparked by the crisis on the United States subprime mortgage market.
On Tuesday the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its refinancing rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.5% as an emergency measure to stop the crisis spreading to the broader economy.
Policy makers and business leaders will also be discussing global issues ranging from science and technology to international conflicts.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will give an address to the forum this evening on conflicts in the Middle East and climate change. She is set to meet with key allies in Washington's "war on terror" on the sidelines of the forum, including Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Security measures at the event are set to cost the Swiss government over $7 million, with thousands of troops and hundreds of police deployed at the Alpine resort.
