The AEI World Forum is an annual meeting of business and financial executives,

heads of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gr ...

, government officials, and intellectuals. Held every spring in

Sea Island, Georgia Sea Island is a privately owned, unincorporated area of Glynn County, Georgia, and is part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, which include St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, and the mainland city of Brunswick. The well-v ...

, it is sponsored by the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

(AEI) and the Vail Valley Foundation, and it features a number of AEI scholars and fellows.Vail Valley Foundation,
World Forum

History

In 1976, U.S. president

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

hosted the second G7 summit in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. During his presidency, Ford became close friends with three of the other heads of government present at the summit: British prime minister

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

, French president

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

, and German chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Ch ...

. After his presidency, Ford joined the American Enterprise Institute as its "Distinguished Fellow" and in 1982, he and his wife,

Betty Ford Elizabeth Anne Ford (; formerly Warren; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a p ...

, hosted the first AEI World Forum near their home in Beaver Creek. Along with Callaghan, Giscard d'Estaing, and Schmidt, he hoped to enrich discourse among world leaders and explore crucial public policy issues in an intimate setting. Ford hosted the World Forum until his death in 2006. At the twenty-sixth World Forum in 2007, Vice President

Richard Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...

unveiled Gerald R. Ford Hall in the Beaver Creek Park

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and va ...

Hotel, where the World Forum's sessions are held.

Format

The AEI World Forum is private and off the record. The World Forum consists of plenary sessions, topical small-group discussion sessions, informal conversational time, and recreational activities. According to the Vail Valley Foundation, "Senior U.S. cabinet officers and legislators provide candid briefings on important policy initiatives. Heads of major international corporations discuss business and financial developments. Government officials from Europe, Asia and the Americas debate international strategic and economic issues in a private, informal atmosphere, far removed from the distractions of day-to-day business." Journalists are not able to officially report on discussions taking place, leading to claims that the event is “secretive”. However, this does not prevent journalists from obtaining discussion topics, or from speaking at the events off the record. The Forum attracts right-leaning politicians, and has included members of the

Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

and UK Conservative party government ministers. It has also been reported that its members shaped discussions ahead of the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were se ...

References

{{Gerald Ford, state=collapsed Meetings James Callaghan Gerald Ford Valéry Giscard d'Estaing American Enterprise Institute Annual events in Colorado