23rd January: Talks open

23 January 2003

McDonalds bunkers
down for the WEF

Some said the reason the World Economic Forum (WEF) was in New York last year was not because of security but because Chief Executives had complained about the lack of luxury hotel rooms in Davos.

A cast of thousands

At the moment it seems that quite a few of them are prepared to slum it in the snowy Swiss village of Davos. So far we expect:

• Several hundred business leaders
• 170 politicians
• 2,000 Swiss Army regulars

and many other police to turn up. And they'll have to troop past the huge inflatable corporate giant on parade outside our own counter-conference - Public Eye on Davos.

The phenomenal organization of our Swiss colleagues in Friends of the Earth and the Berne Convention means that everything is running smoothly.

Today I chaired a panel on the need for corporate accountability. The contributions were many and varied.

Global rules are needed because developing countries are too weak compared to multinationals

Meena Raman, Friends of the Earth Malaysia

Others were worried that privatization was leading to corruption. And David Petrasek of Amnesty International said that voluntary agreements weren't enough to secure human rights.

The small village of Davos, Switzerland

The staggering thing is, this is exactly the kind of debate which is not happening in the WEF itself. There are debates on all issues in the WEF, but the real action is the 'networking' opportunity that CEOs say is the real reason for them to be there.

Don't let big business rule the world,

Matt

Matt Phillips , our Senior Corporates Campaigner is sending daily updates direct from the World Economic Forum.