By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - World leaders and policymakers will gather in record numbers at next week's annual Davos forum to discuss how to overcome the worst global economic crisis in 80 years, organisers said on Wednesday.
Bankers blamed for the credit turmoil will be fewer in number, and instead politicians and financial policy chiefs will dominate the proceedings.
More than 40 heads of state and government will be accompanied by 36 finance ministers and central bankers, including all the central bank chiefs of the G8 group of rich countries except the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.
Davos will allow world leaders to confer on neutral ground as they struggle to craft their response to the crisis ahead of a summit of the G20 group of big and emerging countries in April and a G8 summit in July.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will open the Davos meeting on Jan. 28. Also present in the Swiss resort will be Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who chairs the G20.
U.S. President Barack Obama is sending his National Economic Council director Larry Summers and National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones. It is still unclear whether Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, facing a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, will attend.
The 2009 meeting, dubbed "Shaping the Post-Crisis World", aims to understand how to get out of the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s.
"This crisis has shown that the world is not capable any more to cope with the complexity of today," the forum's founder and chairman, Klaus Schwab, told a news conference.
He said the economic upheaval comprised several overlapping crises -- of global imbalances, finance, and the business cycle, as well as a systemic crisis and a crisis of confidence.
POLITICAL LEADERS
One aim of this year's Davos meeting, which runs until Feb. 1, is to allow business leaders and "stakeholders" such as trade unionists and non-governmental organisations to contribute to the G20's goals of reforming the world's financial architecture and relaunching the global economy before its April summit, Schwab said.
Around 20 trade ministers will meet on Saturday on the sidelines of the forum to discuss the prospects for a deal in the long-running Doha round talks to open up commerce, and other measures to ward off protectionism and bolster cooperation.
Government leaders will rub shoulders with the greatest number of top business executives yet to attend the World Economic Forum since it started in 1971.
More than 1,400 chief executives and company chairmen -- just over half the official participants -- are attending.
Mark Foster, global head of management consulting at consultancy firm Accenture said companies were having to adjust to a shift in the balance of power between corporations and governments, which could encourage some executives to attend.
"People are somewhat caught between the reality of needing to be at their desks right now, while recognising that not being part of the debate is also is a pretty big thing to be out of," he told a briefing in London.
Within the record business attendance there was a slight shift away from the financial sector, organisers said.
The packed programme would leave little time for lavish partying that was a feature of past forums, with the emphasis on a "very hard-working, roll up your sleeves" meeting, they said.
Besides the economy, the meeting will tackle other risks facing the world, such as water, food security and climate change. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen will outline plans for December's Copenhagen climate conference.
To promote a shift from "ego capitalism" to "eco capitalism" participants will each receive a pedometer with a prize for the one walking most in the often snowbound resort. (Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London; Editing by Giles Elgood)