US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will take part Saturday in a secretive meeting in Switzerland of global power brokers discreetly discussing issues like Brexit and the future of capitalism.
The State Department confirmed Saturday that Pompeo, who is on a four-nation tour of Europe, would take part in the four-day Bilderberg meeting, which kicked off on Thursday in the picturesque Swiss town of Montreux, AFP reports.
His participation had not been previously mentioned in the official agenda and he did not figure on the list of some 130 elites from 23 countries participating in the event.
Already on the list is US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, who might use the forum to try to drum up support for his yet to be unveiled Middle East peace plan.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and elder statesman Henry Kissinger also figure on the list of participants, as do Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
The group, which has met every year since 1954 and was created as a forum for fostering dialogue between Europe and North America, is this year discussing a range of topics such as climate change, the future of capitalism, the ethics of Artificial Intelligence, China, Russia and Brexit, the organisers said.