Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's hectic schedule on the first day at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Thursday is somewhat akin to cross-country skiing.

His busy schedule, which stretches from morning right until late evening, includes back-to-back meetings with heads of states, economic leaders, corporate giants as well as the foreign media fraternity.

This does not include the thousands of WEF delegates wanting to talk to him informally and who are eager to know first-hand what Malaysia has to offer.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, will start the day with a meeting with Mercuria Energy Switzerland, a competitive and privately-owned international commodity trading company active in a wide spectrum of global energy markets.

It will be followed by a meeting with Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy, who was re-elected unanimously by the general council for a second four-year term beginning Sept 1, 2009.

The Prime Minister will also hold a meeting with the Chairman of Itochu Corp, Eizo Kobayashi, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hanwha Group, Nam Gyu Cha.

Both companies are conglomerates in their respective countries.

It will be followed by a bilateral meeting with Canada's Minister of Finance, James M. Flaherty.

Then, he would meet the Chief Executive of Evonik Industries AG, Klaus Engel.

An industrial corporation headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Evonik Industries is one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies.

Najib's final meeting for the day is with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.

The schedule does not stop there as he will be interviewed by the Financial Times.

At night, he and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, will attend a dinner hosted by Datuk Ho May Yong, Malaysia's Ambassador to Switzerland.