Star-spotting at the Davos summit before getting down to business

This year’s gathering dives right in on the most serious issues of the day while maintaining the usual sense of humour, Frank Kane writes from Switzerland.

Davos, as we all know, is mainly about star-spotting. But a world-renowned economist, two eminent leaders of UAE business, and a member of the Bahrain royal family, all before I’d even left Zurich airport? A new personal best for me.

On the way to baggage reclaim I had a quick chat with Nouriel Roubini, the economist who called the financial crisis; then I said hello to Gerald Lawless, the Jumeirah group chief executive, and Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, UAE banker par excellence, before being introduced to a member of the ruling Al Khalifa family of Bahrain.

A very good start to the annual star-fest in the snow that is the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

Nor were there any hitches getting to the Alpine resort where it all takes place either. There are several ways to do the 150-kilometre trip from Zurich to Davos.

The masters of the universe do it by helicopter at about US$3,500 each way. Others do it by limo for a bit less. The cash strapped – like yours truly – do it by train, with two changes between the airport and Davos Platz. That way, you gradually ease yourself into the Alpine environment and acclimatise to life at 1,560 metres.

It really is a lovely journey when the sun is shining on majestic peaks covered in snow, with too-quaint-to-be-true Swiss houses nestling in the valleys.

The WEF does its bit to welcome you in. There was an evening reception for media at the Hilton at which Adrian Monck, head of public engagement for the WEF, set the annual meeting against the background of the recent events in Paris.

He introduced a cartoonist, Chapette, who took a wry and cynical look at the annual meeting. One drawing showed a businessman on a WEF stage asking, “So what kind of world will we leave to our children? Apart from the plane and the yacht, I mean.”

That’s one of the good things about Davos. The gathering talks mainly about serious issues, but does have the ability to crack a joke at itself as well.

The first full day of the annual meeting is usually a gradual affair, building up to the big set piece events later in the day when Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the forum, formally welcomes participants. This year, the real meaty sessions took place in the afternoon, with a session in the main plenary hall on the future of Ukraine addressed by that country’s president, Petro Poroshenko.

Following this heavyweight subject, Mr Schwab had a busy afternoon with two other serious events: an interview with the Swiss president, Simonetta Sommaruga, before moving on to a one-to-one with the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang.

That adds up to a busy schedule for the WEF boss, who clearly likes to practice the “executive” part of his title.

But in fact the morning sessions could by no means be described as a gentle warm up. There was one big serious issue on the agenda that packed the participants in to sessions, leaving them “all signed up” – the WEF equivalent of sold out.

Oil was the big question on peoples’ minds. “The new energy context” session was a sell-out, as was “the geo-economics of energy”.

Far from giving in to the happy-go-lucky side of their nature, WEF participants have obviously decided they must get the serious business out of the way before they can indulge in some of the more light-hearted sessions on offer later in the day: “Music – evolution or revolution?”, for example, or “Making sense of a mad world.”

The latter, surely, is what Weffers try to do all the time?

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