The WEF Annual Meeting will be held in Davos; McConnell expects Senate impeachment trial to start next Tuesday; Brazil will promote ethanol in Bolsonaro's visit to India.
These are the international events under the spotlight for the week starting Jan 20.
The WEF Annual Meeting to be held in Davos
A woman passes by the World Economic Forum logo in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 20, 2019. [Photo/Agencies]
The 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting will be held in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 21-24. The meeting aims to engage world leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industrial agendas at the beginning of each year.
The forum's mission – improving the state of the world – guides the design and development of the annual meeting's objectives.
Vice-Premier Han Zheng will attend the annual meeting and pay a visit to Switzerland from Jan 20 to 21.
McConnell expects Senate impeachment trial to start next Tuesday
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell faces reporters with fellow Senate Republicans following their weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, on Jan 7, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he expects the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump to begin on Jan 21, after the House votes on Jan 15 to name the Democrats who will argue the case for Trump's removal and to send the case over to the Senate.
McConnell reiterated that he has the support of 53 Republican senators on an initial resolution to outline how to move forward. The first measure, he said, would set up the arguments from both parties — the prosecution and the defense — and then provide for a period in which senators could submit written questions.
Conviction can only happen in the Senate and requires at least two-thirds of its members, or 67 senators, to vote in favor after a trial. Currently, the Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents.
Brazil to promote ethanol in Bolsonaro's visit to India
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro looks on as he leaves the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Dec 12, 2019. [Photo/Agencies]
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will pay an official visit to India on Jan 25-27. Ethanol will be one of the main items on the agenda of this visit.
The Brazilian government will discuss ways to assist India in boosting its ethanol program, such as increasing production and blending ethanol with gasoline, which could help reduce the country's sugar stocks and boost global prices for the sweetener, said Evandro Gussi, head of sugar and ethanol industry group Unica.
Julio Maria Borges, a sugar and ethanol expert at Sao Paulo-based consultancy JOB, said adding flexibility to the sugar sector with the possibility to also produce ethanol could prevent production at a loss for some countries, including India.
