To be honest before I came here for my first World Economic Forum I was a bit of a Davos sceptic. I still am, a bit, but I think I can see what the organisers were after when I think about the people I encounetred last night: three senior Government ministers, including the Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, all very impressive; the boss of a go-ahead Indian biotech firm, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, even more impresive; four Nobel prize winners, including Shimon Peres; the actress Francesca Martinez, who you might recall from Extras; Arthur Mutambara, from the MDC in Zimbabwe who explained to everyone in the back of a shuttle how the Zimbabwean economy keeps managing to function; plus the usual compliment of bankers and bosses.
Eclectic and fun.
Unlike all the talk around the Soveriegn Wealth Funds, there was a lively session on this issue this morning. Very detailed stuff with the Russians and Kuwaitis very comabtive about perceived attacks on them by the West; but the Norwegian minister in charge of their oil fund put it best; "you don't like us - but you need our money".
Davos is just a big party, a kind of Hello! magazine freebie for the world's movers and shakers. I'm not surprised you're a bit sceptical.
Posted by: Sam | Thursday, 24 January 2008 at 01:17 PM