Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to make his first appearance Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where leaders will debate the call for tougher banking regulations in the wake of the financial crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy formally opened the annual five-day event, the theme of which is "Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild," with a call for better controls on banks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures during the opening reception of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 27. (Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press)Sarkozy called for new accounting rules and tighter limits on executive pay, adding that the risks are too great if "we do not change the regulation of our banking system and the rules for accounting and prudential oversight."

Harper will give a keynote speech outlining his agenda for the two summits he is hosting in June — the G8 in Ontario's cottage country and then the G20 in Toronto.

He is also expected to talk about the merits of Canada's banking system and focus on the fact that Canada’s banks emerged relatively unscathed from the global economic meltdown.

"He's got a message to bring here about the wisdom of banking regulation," Terry Milewski of CBC News said from Davos. "At the same time, he’s not going to be as aggressive as the Europeans, I think, in terms of reining in the capitalistic centres as they see it.

"Harper is going be a voice of moderation on that, but he's going to point to the example of Canada as an example of good regulation."

Raising infant death issues

Harper will also call on countries to address the problem of maternal and infant mortality in the developing world, which will be a key priority at this summer's G8/G20 meetings.

Some 2,500 participants are expected in Davos, including presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton will encourage big business to support Haiti's reconstruction while Avatar director James Cameron and classical pianist Lang Lang are the event's top cultural representatives. Canadian author Margaret Atwood will also attend.

On Wednesday, bosses from Deutsche Bank, Lloyd's and other financial giants warned that a flood of new regulations risk choking off a global economic recovery.

"Let's get good regulation, better regulation, but not more regulation," said Peter Levene, chairman of insurance specialist Lloyd's.

Peter Sands, CEO of Britain's Standard Chartered Bank, said his industry has already been "fundamentally changed" by tighter regulations and supervision, while Deutsche Bank chairman Josef Ackermann said "we will all be losers" if governments clamp down on markets too zealously.

"The pendulum might have swung too far," Ackermann warned. "Consistent and global rules, and a level playing field is absolutely key to the global economy."

Bogus website targets Harper, Clinton

As the forum kicked off, several of the participants were subjects of an online prank similar to a hoax initiated by the activist group The Yes Men at the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.

A fake email press release was circulated to the media, linking to a fake World Economic Forum website and videos of purported "pre-interview policy statements" from world leaders, including Harper, Queen Elizabeth and Bill Clinton.

The video of the prime minister, which appears to be cut from his interview last month with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge, features a voice dubbed over Harper's saying Canada was going to "tone back our weak subservience to dirty oil."

With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press