Davos Diary: Unlocking money to pay the bills

The night before I flew to Davos to meet the world's business and fin-ancial leaders, I bumped into a group of friends who have worked in Dubai's construction business for many years.

When I said I was going to the World Economic Forum, there was the usual chorus of "have fun skiing". (Unfortunately I still do not know how to ski, so I cannot waste Gulf News money on the ski slopes!)

Several of my friends worked in companies which are now trying to cope with outstanding payments of several hundred millions of dirhams, and told me that they were getting more worried as every month passes.

This year's meeting in Davos is all about unlocking the global financial system to find the money so that these bills can be paid, and almost as importantly, encouraging the confidence that allows the banks to find the credit that allows these payments to be made.

The global system is in the middle of a major crisis, and it affects all corners of the world's economy. The solutions to my friends' problems cannot be found by any one country acting on its own. One of the major challenges in this global crisis is that the world's economies are managed at a national level, not global, and therefore the way forward has to be found by all governments working together.

Each country has to do its bit, as the UAE has done by announcing a strongly reflationary budget for 2009, acting in concert with both emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi which also did the same. And in addition, the UAE Central Bank has announced powerful measures to support the UAE's banking system.

But still more is needed at a global level.

This is why Davos is so important this year, as it focuses government and business minds on how to coordinate steps to encourage recovery, and ensure that each individual country's efforts are not wasted.

Meanwhile, I had to travel to Davos. Passing though Emirates' Terminal Three for the first time, I was amazed by the size of the place. Very well organised and very well set up. I was also impressed by the optimism of Dubai Duty Free: one of the shops in T3 was selling two giant metal statues of rearing horses, which were taller than myself.

Not easy to put in one's hand luggage, even for the famously unflappable Emirates staff. And not the kind of thing that I would imagine was an impulse purchase to be made in an airport. I cannot imagine explaining to my wife that I was just passing through T3 and felt we needed a seven-foot-high horse in the sitting room.

Obviously Dubai Duty Free knows more than I do after 25 very successful years of business.

As last year, I am stunned by the beauty of Switzerland in the winter. The soaring peaks of black rock, the glittering white slopes and the dark green trees. I have only been here once before and I have not managed to get blasé over the incredible sights of the vast mountains.

But dragging my eyes off the distant peaks, the World Economic Forum in Davos is still a weird mix of very important people hanging out together with the media in a very small Swiss village.

As I prepare to deal with the incredible security checks, and start to rush from room to room, from conference centre to hotels, trying to find the right place to be at any one moment, the intellectual pressure cooker that is Davos has already started to work its magic.

This week is not about finding an instant solution to the global recession, but is certainly a place which will tease apart and improve the agendas for the many action meetings planned around the world.