WEF director wants to see Erdogan back in Davos

Director of the Europe and Central Asia region for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stephen Kinnock openly invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the WEF, which he left after a Davos, Switzerland meeting where he argued with Israeli President Shimon Peres in 2009. "The continuation of our relations with Turkey is of utmost importance for us. It would be nice to see Turkey represented at the highest level again," said Kinnock, adding, "What happened has happened. We need to leave that behind and move on. Turkey is very important for us and we are happy to be here again. The meeting in Istanbul is a testimony that we have the correct dialogue with Turkey." Today Erdogan is set to officially open the WEF meeting on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia which will continue through tomorrow. The WEF's follow-up meeting to be held with the theme of "Bridging Regions in Transformation" is set to bring together more than 1,000 leaders from business, governments, academia and civil society from over 70 nations. The meeting is being held with the support of the government of Turkey.