--- eventsindex_id: EI-07039 slug: world-policy-conference title: World Policy Conference title_alt: - WPC canonical_url: https://eventsindex.org/events/world-policy-conference.html next_edition_dates: '' next_edition_year: 2026 date_start: null date_end: null venue: TBC for 2027; 2026 edition held at Domaine Les Fontaines, Gouvieux, Chantilly city: '' country: '' organiser: Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) / WPC Foundation organiser_url: https://www.worldpolicyconference.com/ b2b: true vector: sector: - policy-forums audience: - heads-of-state - government-ministers - senior-diplomats - ceos - international-organisation-officials format: - conference purpose: - networking geography_scope: - pan-EMEA season: spring meta_description: "World Policy Conference 2027: annual Ifri forum on global governance, gathering heads of state, ministers and business leaders. Host city TBC." editorial_take: 'The World Policy Conference occupies a rare position on the global governance circuit: a small-format, invitation-only annual convening founded by Ifri that consistently draws sitting heads of state and senior ministers alongside business and academic figures, prioritising depth of exchange over scale.' generated_by: enrich-cowork (N1/N2/N3) last_verified: '2026-06-11' schema_version: v8.0 language: en --- # World Policy Conference > *Founded in 2008 by Ifri's Thierry de Montbrial, the World Policy Conference is an annual invitation-only forum that gathers sitting heads of state, ministers, senior diplomats, business executives, and researchers to advance substantive dialogue on global governance, international order, and geopolitical interdependence.* --- ## Quick Facts | DATES | VENUE | ORGANISER | ATTENDANCE | |---|---|---|---| | 2027 TBC (19th edition; 2026 edition: 24-26 April, Chantilly, France) | Host city rotates internationally; 2027 venue unconfirmed | Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) and WPC Foundation | Not publicly disclosed; limited high-level format | ## Definition The World Policy Conference (WPC) is an annual international forum on global governance and geopolitics, organised jointly by the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) and the WPC Foundation. Founded in 2008 by Thierry de Montbrial, executive chairman and founder of Ifri, the conference brings together political leaders, senior government officials, business executives, academics, and journalists from all five continents. The conference operates as an invitation-only, small-format gathering, prioritising substantive exchange over large-scale networking. The host city rotates internationally across editions, with past venues in France, Morocco, Austria, Switzerland, Qatar, South Korea, the UAE, and Monaco. ## What is the World Policy Conference? The World Policy Conference is one of the most senior-level invitation-only forums dedicated specifically to international relations and global governance. Unlike large-format multilateral summits, the WPC is structured around focused plenary sessions, expert workshops, and informal lunch and dinner debates, all designed to generate candid, high-level exchange in a contained setting. The format deliberately limits total participation to allow genuine dialogue rather than choreographed statements, which is unusual among forums that regularly attract sitting heads of state and ministers. Each edition centres on a unifying theme that reflects the most pressing structural challenges in the international system. The 18th edition (2026) was framed around "For a reasonably open world" and the tension between fragmentation and interdependence in global governance, a theme that captured the dominant geopolitical tensions of the mid-2020s. The rotating host city structure ensures the conference is not anchored to any single regional perspective, reinforcing its self-positioning as a genuinely global forum rather than a European or Western institution. ## Who attends World Policy Conference The WPC draws from a narrow but senior pool across political, economic, and intellectual life: - **Heads of state and government:** sitting presidents and prime ministers regularly attend as principal speakers or guests of honour. - **Foreign ministers and senior diplomats:** bilateral and multilateral officials engaged in active international negotiations. - **CEOs and chairpersons of major corporations:** particularly from sectors with significant exposure to geopolitical risk, including finance and infrastructure. - **Think-tank directors and senior researchers:** especially those working on international relations, security, and development. - **Journalists and editors:** senior figures from international media covering foreign affairs. The mix signals a deliberate strategy of combining decision-making authority with analytical expertise and media reach, in a format small enough for participants to interact directly. The conference consistently draws figures from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, resisting the concentration of Western voices common to many comparable forums. ## What World Policy Conference covers programmatically The 2026 edition (18th) organised its sessions around the overarching theme "Between fragmentation and interdependence: rethinking global governance." Sessions explored the structural forces pulling the international system toward fragmentation, the economic and security costs of that trajectory, and the institutional or diplomatic architectures that could sustain a degree of openness. The presence of the French president, the Serbian president, the Rwandan president, and senior African ministers reflected the conference's commitment to multi-regional representation at the highest level. Across editions, recurring subject areas include: the future of multilateral institutions and their reform; the role of emerging powers in reshaping global governance; economic interdependence versus sovereignty tensions; climate and development at the intersection of geopolitics; and the evolving relationship between authoritarian and democratic governance models. The WPC does not publish a fixed thematic programme years in advance; each edition's agenda is shaped by the convening team in response to the dominant international dynamics of the moment. ## Notable speakers and participants The 2026 edition in Chantilly brought together Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, who addressed the conference at the close of the first day at a gala dinner. The French President participated on the second day alongside Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia. Dominique Senequier, Chairwoman of the private equity firm Ardian, represented senior business leadership. Niale Kaba, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cote d'Ivoire, attended on behalf of President Alassane Ouattara. Gerard Larcher, President of the French Senate, and His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, also participated. Thierry de Montbrial, founder of the WPC and of Ifri, chairs the conference. The roster for the 2027 (19th) edition has not been announced. ## Edition history and context The World Policy Conference was founded in 2008 in Evian-les-Bains, France, as a flagship convening initiative of Thierry de Montbrial and Ifri. Over seventeen subsequent editions, the conference has been held in Marrakech (three times), Vienna, Cannes, Monaco, Seoul, Montreux, Doha, Rabat, Abu Dhabi, and Chantilly, establishing a genuine record of international rotation rather than returning to a single hub. The 13th edition was not held (2020, COVID-19 pandemic). The 18th edition in Chantilly in April 2026 marked a return to France after several years of editions hosted in North Africa and the Middle East. In 2017, the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania ranked the WPC third among think tank-affiliated conferences worldwide. The 2027 conference will be the 19th edition; its dates and host city have not yet been confirmed at the time of writing. ## FAQ · Identity and audience ### What distinguishes the World Policy Conference from larger global forums like Davos or the Munich Security Conference? The WPC is considerably smaller than Davos or the Munich Security Conference, and explicitly prioritises depth of exchange over breadth of participation. The invitation-only, limited-attendance format allows sitting leaders to engage in workshop and debate settings rather than solely in prepared statements. The conference is not affiliated with a business membership organisation or a government-sponsored security agenda, which gives it a degree of intellectual independence, organised through Ifri's academic framework. ### Is the World Policy Conference focused on any particular region or issue area? No. The conference intentionally addresses global governance in a broad sense, with each edition's theme covering the structural state of the international system as a whole. While Ifri is a French and European institution, the WPC has consistently been held outside France and has featured heads of state and senior officials from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas at every edition. ### How does the rotating host city model affect the conference's identity? The rotation is a deliberate editorial and strategic choice: hosting in different cities each year prevents the conference from being perceived as a European or Western institution, and signals genuine global ambition. Past editions in Doha, Seoul, Abu Dhabi, and Marrakech have reflected the conference's commitment to engaging governance debates from multiple regional vantage points. ### Who is World Policy Conference NOT designed for? - Practitioners seeking public exhibition space, booth presence, or product-market visibility. - Organisations looking for a large-format networking event with open registration. - Early-career researchers or junior officials without senior seniority or specific invitation. - Companies or entities seeking primarily commercial exposure or sales contact. - Attendees focused on a single sectoral issue (technology, climate, finance) rather than international relations and governance as a cross-cutting frame. ## The venue: Domaine Les Fontaines, Chantilly (2026) The 18th edition was held at Domaine Les Fontaines, a 19th-century chateau and estate set in a 52-hectare park near Gouvieux, approximately one hour north of Paris. The estate, formerly associated with the Rothschild family, has been reimagined as a professional seminar and conference campus. Its contained, residential character suits the WPC's small-format philosophy: a campus setting encourages sustained interaction among participants across formal sessions and informal meals rather than the dispersed, transient contact typical of convention-centre events. The 2027 venue has not been announced. ## The organiser: Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) and WPC Foundation Ifri, the Institut français des relations internationales, is France's principal independent think tank for international affairs research, founded in 1979 by Thierry de Montbrial in Paris. It produces research on geopolitics, security, energy, and economics, and hosts a wide range of expert events. Thierry de Montbrial remains its founder and executive chairman, and is the intellectual driving force behind the WPC. The WPC Foundation acts as the conference's organisational vehicle, working alongside Ifri to manage each edition's logistics, invitation process, and host-country partnerships. Together, they position the WPC as the flagship annual convening of the Ifri network, distinct from Ifri's regular publication and seminar calendar in both scale and ambition. --- ## Editorial take *The World Policy Conference holds a distinct position in the international governance circuit: it is one of the few invitation-only, small-format forums that consistently attracts sitting heads of state and senior ministers, organised by a think tank rather than a government or business membership body, with a rotating host city that reinforces its genuinely global rather than Western-centric identity.* ## How to register and what it costs The World Policy Conference operates exclusively on an invitation basis. There is no open registration process, no public ticket sale, and no delegate fee structure published. Participation is by direct invitation from the WPC organisers, extended to individuals whose roles and perspectives align with the conference's objectives for a given edition. Organisations or individuals wishing to be considered for an invitation are advised to contact Ifri directly via the official website. The WPC does not publish a standard delegate price, and the conference is not open to walk-in attendance or commercial sponsorship delegates in the typical conference-market sense. ## FAQ · Access and practicalities ### Can I register to attend the World Policy Conference as an individual or through my organisation? No. The WPC is strictly invitation-only. There is no registration portal or ticketing system. Attendance is determined by the organising team based on the specific profile they are seeking for each edition. ### How can my organisation become involved with the WPC? Involvement at the institutional or partnership level requires direct engagement with Ifri and the WPC Foundation. The conference website (worldpolicyconference.com) and Ifri's main site (ifri.org) are the primary contact points. There is no published sponsorship or partnership prospectus available publicly. ### Where can I follow the conference without attending? The WPC posts selected session recordings and highlights on its YouTube channel (contentwpctv). Its X/Twitter account (@WorldPolicyConf) and Instagram (@worldpolicyconf) provide real-time coverage during the conference. Ifri publishes post-conference summaries and selected speeches on ifri.org. ## Resources | Resource | URL | |---|---| | Official website | https://www.worldpolicyconference.com/ | | Organiser (Ifri) | https://www.ifri.org/en/world-policy-conference-0 | | YouTube channel | https://www.youtube.com/@contentwpctv | | Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Policy_Conference | --- **Last verified:** 2026-06-11 **Next review:** 2026-07-11 **Notes:** The task prompt references the 19th edition (2027). As of 2026-06-11, no dates, host city, or venue for the 2027 edition have been confirmed publicly. All confirmed information in this fiche relates to the 18th edition (24-26 April 2026, Domaine Les Fontaines, Chantilly, France). Attendance figures are not disclosed by the organiser. Speaker names are drawn from verifiable press coverage of the 2026 edition. The conference is invitation-only; no ticket pricing exists. The Wikipedia article covers only through the 14th edition (Abu Dhabi, 2021); editions 15-18 are confirmed via official website and Ifri press releases. **Variables:** 41/58 **Concept definition:** not applicable