Attendees at Davos know all about airport-style security; bags scanned, laptops and iPads removed etc. Queues are also common. No more so than at the Belvedere Hotel, where many of the events outside the main conference centre take place.
Even before 7am on Wednesday delegates were queuing for 20 minutes in the cold – this is a ski resort – to file through the scanners. As a result, those all-important breakfast meetings had to be delayed. Company bosses, though, saw the positive side. Irene Gordon, chief executive of Ingredion, the Illinois-based US food company, says “security lines are good” – it is a chance to talk to delegates. “It is how you get your data.”
Tight schedule
World leaders are always busy at Davos, but the president of Ukraine is on a particularly tight schedule. Petro Poroshenko, who looked in sombre mood at Tuesday night’s Crystal Awards ceremony, is cutting short his trip. He’ll be racing back to Kiev after addressing the World Economic Forum on Wednesday afternoon. Even though global conflict is a major issue at this year’s forum, there seems little point in hanging out with the global elite when Donetsk airport is being blown to bits.
On their bikes
Company bosses like to let it be known that they are as physically trim as they are mentally agile. So this year at Davos, delegates are wearing the red wristbands being handed out by the Swiss bank UBS and World Bicycle Relief in what is being called a “Walk for Education”. Many children in Africa have long walks to school each day and a bicycle would improve attendance.
If participants walk an average 6km at Davos UBS will donate 2,500 specially designed bicycles to a pupil in rural South Africa, one for every Davos participant. That could be quite a challenge for those delegates used to climbing into their limos for even the shortest trips from the conference centre to their hotels, just to beat the cold.
Swiss role
Spotted in Davos. Lord Turner, former boss of the Financial Services Authority, wearing a bright red hat – emblazoned with the distinctive white cross from the Swiss flag.
