On Tuesday, Governor Brian Kemp appeared alongside Delaware U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at “one of the world’s most exclusive gatherings” in Davos, Switzerland.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports that “amid gridlock in Washington,” Gov. Kemp told the World Economic Forum “Georgia’s economy is rocking and rolling.” Bluestein adds that Kemp advised politicians in the audience to be “straightforward with their audiences.”

Each year, hundreds of “billionaire financiers, corporate chieftains and heads of state” gather at the World Economic Forum. Bluestein writes that conservatives have come to view the forum as a “hated symbol of excess.”

Kemp has reportedly made sure to distance himself from the group currently meeting in Switzerland. The governor described himself as a ‘Georgia redneck going to Davos’ before the trip, and he “stood out as the only participant on the stage wearing cowboy boots,” Bluestein writes.

Before heading overseas, Kemp told state lawmakers that he was going to Davos because it’s “a great opportunity for me to be out here to share Georgia’s success story with people from around the world.

“I believe they can certainly learn a thing or two from us.”

Young climate activists, including Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, will be in Davos Thursday to discuss speeding up the energy transition with the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Associated Press reports that IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and the young activists will discuss whether governments and businesses are “responding adequately to the climate crisis.”

The AP’s adds that the meeting comes after Thunberg and other protesters were “carried away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine in western Germany where they demonstrated against the destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion.”

>> Follow LIVE updates from the World Economic Forum here.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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