With so many big events to happen, Northeast Asian countries are expected to dominate the World Economic Forum's agenda next year, an official with the Forum said on Saturday.

"The next year will be interesting year for Asia, particularly East Asia," Lee Howell, Asian Department Director of the World Economic Forum, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

However, the agenda is yet to be decided, he added.

"In 2008, of course, there will be great celebration of Beijing Olympics, but also Japan is to be the president of G-8, and also South Korea will have a new president," Howell said. "So it will be an interesting year, I hope, particularly for Northeast Asia, that we will see strong presence from those three countries in Davos in 2008," he added.

About 2,400 businessmen and politicians kicked off their five- day meeting in the Swiss ski resort Davos on Wednesday. Participants took up a variety of issues under the theme of " Shaping the Global Agenda: The Shifting Power Equation," with emerging China and India sharing the spotlight.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2007)