The 2023 Bilderberg Conference or Bilderberg Club was held between May 18–21, 2023 at the

Pestana Palace Pestana Palace is a luxury hotel in Lisbon, Portugal, in the Alcântara district. Housed in the historic Palácio Vale Flor, Pestana Palace is the flagship luxury hotel of the Pestana Group, one of Portugal's premier hotel groups. It is a membe ...

hotel in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal. The 2023 meeting was the 69th edition of the event. A Bilderberg Group press release stated that there were approximately 130 participants from 23 countries. Established in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Bilderberg conferences (or meetings) are an annual private gathering of the European and North American political and business

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

. Events are attended by between 120 and 150 people each year invited by the Bilderberg Group's steering committee; including prominent politicians, CEOs, national security experts, academics and journalists. The 2023 conference received some media attention due to the participation of several major players in the artificial intelligence space, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CE ...

Google DeepMind DeepMind Technologies is a British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and research laboratory founded in 2010. DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, after Google's restru ...

chief Demis Hassabis and former Google CEO

Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer known for being the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, executive chairman of Google from 2011 to 2015, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 20 ...

. Bilderberg conferences operate under

Chatham House rules Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for h ...

, meaning that participants are sworn to secrecy and cannot disclose the identity or affiliation of any particular speaker. There were no press conferences during or after the event, as is customary. According to '' The Guardian'', the paper's journalists were able to approach one high-ranking attendee, economist

Victor Halberstadt Victor Halberstadt (born June 16, 1939) is a Dutch economist. Biography Halberstadt was born on June 16, 1939, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was raised in a Jewish family and experienced the terrors of the Holocaust. From 1965 to 1974, Halberstad ...

, in a Lisbon pharmacy, but he denied his identity before jumping into a car and heading back to his hotel.

Agenda

The key topics for discussion at the 2023 Bilderberg Conference were announced on the Bilderberg website shortly before the meeting. These topics included: * AI * Banking system *China *

Energy transition The energy transition is the process of downshifting fossil fuels and re-developing whole systems to operate on low carbon energy sources. More generally, an energy transition is a significant structural change in an energy system regarding ...

*Europe * Fiscal challenges * India *

Industrial policy An industrial policy (IP) or industrial strategy of a country is its official strategic effort to encourage the development and growth of all or part of the economy, often focused on all or part of the manufacturing sector. The government takes m ...

and trade * NATO *Russia * Transnational threats *Ukraine

Participants

A list of 127 participants was published on the Bilderberg website. This list may not be complete, as a source connected to the Bilderberg group told '' The Daily Telegraph'' in 2013 that some attendees do not have their names publicized. Oscar Stenström, Sweden’s chief negotiator for NATO membership, was reported to have been seen at the venue despite his name not being on the list. * Martina Salomon *

Alexander Schallenberg Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg (; born 20 June 1969) is an Austrian diplomat, jurist and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021, previously holding the office from ...

* Koenraad Debackere *

Thomas Leysen Thomas Leysen (born 1960) is a Belgian entrepreneur who graduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with a degree in law. Career Leysen spent a large part of his career at Umicore (formerly Union Minière), which was transformed under hi ...

Ajay Agrawal Ajay K. Agrawal works at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management as the Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation as well as the Professor of Strategic Management. Agrawal co-founded NEXT Canada, previously The ...

* Mark Carney * Chrystia Freeland * Deborah Orida * Mette Frederiksen * Connie Hedegaard *

Kristian Jensen Kristian Jensen (born 21 May 1971 in Middelfart) is a Danish politician who was Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark from 2015 to 2016, Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2019 and Minister of Taxation from 2004 to 2010. Jensen is a member of t ...

(International) * Josep Borrell * Paschal Donohoe *

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

* Roberta Metsola * Didier Reynders * Henrik Ehrnrooth * Erkki Liikanen * Sanna Marin * Gabriel Attal *

Patricia Barbizet Patricia Barbizet (born 17 April 1955) is a French businessperson. She was chief executive officer of Christie's from 2014 to 2016. From 1992 to 2017, she served as executive director of Groupe Artémis. Early life and education Barbizet grad ...

* Valérie Baudson *

Clément Beaune Clément Beaune (born 14 August 1981) is a French public servant and politician who has been serving as the Secretary of State for European affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Élisabeth Borne between 2020 and 2022. B ...

Thomas Buberl Thomas Buberl (born 24 March 1973), is a German businessman who has been the CEO of Axa since 2016. Early life Buberl was born on 24 March 1973 in Cologne, Germany. He earned a business degree from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germ ...

Henri de Castries Henri de La Croix de Castries (born 15 August 1954) is a French businessman. He was chairman and CEO of AXA until retiring from both roles on 1 September 2016. Early life Henri de La Croix de Castries was born on August 15, 1954 in Bayonne. His fa ...

Bernard Émié Bernard Émié (born 6 September, 1958) is a senior French diplomat, who currently serves as the Director of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) (French: Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure), France's main externa ...

* Antoine Gosset-Grainville * Édouard Philippe * Patrick Pouyanné * Paul M. Achleitner * Martin Brudermüller *

Mathias Döpfner Mathias Döpfner (born 15 January 1963) is a German businessman and journalist. He is the CEO and 22% owner of media group Axel Springer SE, and president of the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV). Early li ...

* Bélen Garijo * Anton Hofreiter * Norbert Röttgen *

Wolfgang Schmidt Wolfgang Schmidt may refer to: * Wolfgang Schmidt (athlete) (born 1954), German track and field athlete * Wolfgang Schmidt (politician) Wolfgang Schmidt (; born ) is a German politician and jurist who has been serving as Federal Minister for ...

* Nicky Goulimis * Dimitri Papalexopoulos (treasurer) * Eftichios Vassilakis * Thomas Byrne * Michael O'Leary * Marco Alverà *

Giuliano da Empoli Giuliano da Empoli (born 1973) is an Italian and Swiss political essayist and novelist. He is the founding chairman of Volta, a think tank based in Milan and a professor at Sciences Po Paris. In 2022, he published his debut novel '' Le Mage du Kr ...

Lilli Gruber Dietlinde "Lilli" Gruber (born 19 April 1957) is an Italian journalist and former politician. Currently a talk show host for Italian private television channel La7, Gruber also served as Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to September ...

(International) * Christopher Cavoli *

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

Ben van Beurden Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet "Ben" van Beurden (born 23 April 1958) is a Dutch businessman who is the CEO of Shell plc. Van Beurden joined Shell in 1983, after graduating with a master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft Universit ...

Dolf van den Brink Dolf van den Brink (born 1973) is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board at Heineken N.V. Career Dolf van den Brink is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board at Heineken N.V. since 1 June 2020. H ...

* Sigrid Kaag * Rolly van Rappard * Mark Rutte * Peter Wennink * Kjerstin Braathen *

Børge Brende Børge Brende (born 25 September 1965) is a Norwegian politician and diplomat, and has been the president of the World Economic Forum since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 201 ...

* Øyvind Eriksen Other (International) * Andrei Kolesnikov *

Arvind Subramanian Arvind Subramanian is an Indian economist and the former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, having served from 16 October 2014 to 20 June 2018. Subramanian is currently a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International ...

* Shashank Joshi * Kasia Kieli * Wojciech Kostrzewa * Radoslaw Sikorski *

José Luís Arnaut The Social Democratic Party ( pt, Partido Social Democrata, ; PSD) is a liberal-conservative political party in Portugal. Commonly known by its colloquial initials PSD, on ballot papers its initials appear as its official form PPD/PSD, with the ...

* Francisco Pinto Balsemão *

José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and university teacher, currently serving as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He previously served as the 11th president of the European Commi ...

Duarte Moreira Duarte Luis Lima Constantino Moreira (born September 23, 1982) is a Portuguese and Swiss investor and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and CEO of the Zeno Partners Group, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tellco Bank SA, and chairman of the ...

* Nuno Sebastião * Filipe Silva * Miguel Stilwell de Andrade *

José Manuel Albares José Manuel Albares Bueno (born 22 March 1972) is a Spanish diplomat who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez since 2021. Early life and education ...

* Ana P. Botín * José Creuheras * José M. Entrecanales * Esteban Gonzáles Pons * Magdalena Andersson *

Anna Borg Anna Guðmundína Guðrún Borg (; 30 July 1903 – 14 April 1963) was a Danish-Icelandic actress of stage and screen and autobiographer. The daughter of the Icelandic actress , she grew up in a household where theatre was part of her daily life a ...

* Marcus Wallenberg * Ignazio Cassis * Madeleine von Holzen *

André Kudelski André Kudelski (born 26 May 1960 in Lausanne) is a Swiss engineer of a Polish descent, who is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Kudelski Group. André Kudelski obtained a degree in physical engineering from the École ...

* Mehmet Fatih Ceylan * Refet Gürkaynak *

Ömer Koç Mehmet Ömer Koç (born March 24, 1962) is a Turkish businessman, art collector, and chairman of Koç Holding. Koç, in 2013 ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at US$1.1 billion. Early life Koç was born on March 24, 1962, in Ankara, Turkey. A ...

* Soli Özel * Barçin Yinanç * Dmytro Kuleba * Jeremy Fleming * Demis Hassabis *

David Lammy David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenh ...

Bernard Looney Bernard Looney (born 1970) is an Irish businessman and CEO of BP. During Looney's tenure as CEO of BP, he promised to end BP's relationship with Rosneft, the Russian state-owned energy giant, amid Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Looney was ...

* Zanny Minton Beddoes *

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

Gideon Rachman Gideon Rachman (born 1963) is a British journalist. He became the chief foreign affairs commentator of the ''Financial Times'' in July 2006. In 2016, he won the Orwell Prize for political journalism. In the same year, he was awarded with the C ...

* John Sawers * Rory Stewart *

Tom Tugendhat Thomas Georg John Tugendhat, (born 27 June 1973) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Minister of State for Security since September 2022. He previously served as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commi ...

* Shriti Vadera * Yuan Yang * Stacey Abrams * Sam Altman * Anne Applebaum * Sally Benson * Albert Bourla * Tarun Chhabra * Brian Deese * Jen Easterly *

Elizabeth Economy Elizabeth C. Economy (born 27 December 1962) is an American writer, foreign policy analyst, and expert on China's politics and foreign policy. She has taught undergraduates and postgraduates at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University's Pa ...

* Niall Ferguson * Kenneth Griffin * Avril D. Haines * Reid Hoffman * Alex Karp * Garry Kasparov *

Henry A. Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the preside ...

* Stephen Kotkin *

Henry R. Kravis Henry R. Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.Marie-Josée Kravis Marie-Josée Kravis (née Drouin; born 11 September 1949) is a Canadian businessperson and philanthropist. Early life and education Marie-Josée Drouin was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, of French and English parentage and was the youngest of ...

* John Micklethwait * Craig J. Mundie *

* Matthew Pottinger *

Nadia Schadlow Nadia Catherine Schadlow (born c. 1965) is an American academic and defense-related government officer who briefly served in 2018 as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy in the Trump Administration. She i ...

Eric E. Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer known for being the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, executive chairman of Google from 2011 to 2015, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 201 ...

Ashley J. Tellis Ashley J. Tellis (born 1961) is a senior fellow and inaugural chair at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in ...

* Peter Thiel * Jing Tsu * John Waldron * Thomas Wright * Daniel Yergin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilderberg Conference, 2023 2023 conferences 2023 in international relations Artificial intelligence conferences May 2023 events in Portugal

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Events in Lisbon