Klaus Schwab

By Stephen Cole in Europe on January 27th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Davos opened with a whimper not a bang. Not a happy face anywhere, or at least that's what the forum's founding father Klaus Schwab has ordered.

In my experience, there's always a party somewhere here, but Schwab insists that this year " there is nothing to celebrate".

He even went further and, with I suspect no sense of irony, (academics tend not to get irony), said: "Some bankers have understood the seriousness of the situation."

I'm sure I will find one somewhere.

Inside the main conference chamber, the hand-picked panels, all chuffed to bits at being asked, went through the motions about bankers' bonuses and  greater regulation.

But the protagonists didn't find any consensus. Around the fringes though, amongst the aid workers, some of the righteous people were making it crystal clear that moneymen and women have lost the trust of the public.

By Stephen Cole in Europe on January 25th, 2010
Photo by EPA

Davos is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. Yes, for the World Economic Forum and its founder Klaus Schwab, life could really begin at 40.

But don't expect any fireworks or cake in this normally serene Swiss mountaintop town as 2,500 decision-making delegates start to arrive not to celebrate but to try and "decision-make".

That's not  to say there won't be parties, but to attend any of the cocktail events, dinner-parties, champagne receptions, or  Havana cigar nights you have to have a private invitation.

And the number of invites you receive over the five days is decided by how useful the corporate event organisers think you might be.

However, all the parties take place after the business of the day and that covers a very wide spectrum of subjects ranging from how to save the global banking system to finding a cure for prostate cancer.

Al Jazeera Live

What's Hot


Recent Comments

This work is licensed under Creative Commons. Please read our attribution policy.