Annan, Geldof, Yunus and other icons heading this way

In what will be the biggest meeting in the City of Angels this year, the “One Young World Summit” – dubbed a youth Davos – will open spectacularly at Sanam Luang with the backdrop of the lit-up Emerald Buddha Temple.

The event takes place from November 18-21.

“It’s a milestone for the city. With the host city bid, the organisers came to inspect the [potential] venues in Bangkok one week after the coup in 2013. The governor [MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra] was articulate and the organisers understood that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be the host,” Deuntemduang na Chiangmai, the governor’s adviser and one of the event’s key organisers, said.

Hundreds of international companies have sponsored creative youngsters to come and debate some of the world’s most pressing issues at the summit, with the global-icon elders acting as interlocutors or counsellors.

The gathering and networking are designed to inspire the 1,300 youngsters, who are aged between 18 and 30.

One hundred Thais have been selected to participate.

This is the sixth “One Young World Summit”, first founded in 2009 by UK-born David Jones and Kate Robertson.

It brings together the brightest young people with the aim of empowering them to make lasting connections to create positive change.

Leading personalities such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver, Jack Dorsey and Arianna Huffington have joined the summit as counsellors in the past.

They could be joined at the Bangkok Summit by Nasa astronaut Ron Garan, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, KPMG International’s Lord Michael Hastings, Yougov chairman Carole Stone, actor John Corbett, actress Bo Derek, BP Oil chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, cyclist Victoria Pendleton and gymnast Li Xiaopeng.

Thais on the counsellor team are former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, True Corp’s Supachai Chearavanont, Bill Heinecke from Minor Group, and Siam Piwat’s Chadatip Chutrakul. 

The meeting will take place at the Centara Grand, with hotels all around the vicinity taken up by participants.

The closing ceremony will take place during an all-night party at the main grounds of nearby Chulalongkorn University.

“The global media such as CNN will be here to cover the event throughout – both to a global audience, as well as directly to respective countries that each of the young leaders come from,” Deuntemduang said. 

The participants will also pay visits to Thai sites and organisations as options. These include the Foundation of Slum Child Care, the Portuguese Community and Santa Cruz Church, Wat Pho and the SCG Foundation.