Religious leaders get 'new focus' at World Economic Forum in Davos

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An African cardinal, the archbishop of Dublin, chief rabbis, an Indonesian Islamic preacher and the head of Christian, Islamic and Buddhist non-governmental organizations are attending the world's biggest networking event in Davos, the World Economic Forum meeting.

In 2013, the annual WEF meeting, which began work on Wednesday is setting up a new Global Agenda Council on the Role of Faith.

In past years the meeting in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos-Klosters attracted high profile religious leaders such as the former Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu and his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama.

The WEF honored Academy-winning actress Charlize Theron with a special prize for her work on the HIV pandemic in young impoverished South Africans at the opening ceremony on Tuesday night. Theron won the best actress Oscar in 2004 for the film "Monster."

"I can think of no bigger shadow that is cast than the one over my beautiful country of South Africa because of the AIDS pandemic and that is still continuing to ravage generation after generation," Theron said at the ceremony.

South Africa has the largest HIV positive population in the world, and sub-Saharan Africa is home to three quarters of the world's HIV positive youth.