WEF 2021 kickstarts at Davos today; Modi, Xi, Merkel to speak at virtual forum PM Modi will address the meeting virtually on January 28. The other high-profile leaders who have signed up for the virtual session at 51st WEF includes, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Narendra Singh Tomar, and Smriti Irani BusinessToday.In | January 28, 2021 | Updated 11:03 IST The 51st World Economic Forum is all set to kickstart today, January 25 The 51st World Economic Forum is all set to kickstart today, January 25, at 12:30 PM (IST). The event will continue till January 29, followed by an in-person meeting in Singapore in May as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WEF said there would be 15 special addresses from G20 heads of state and government and international organisations during the summit from January 24-29.