A networking paradise

This year's World Economic Forum (WEF) is being attended by a smaller than usual number of politicians. Of the leaders of the G-8 countries, only Angela Merkel attended the forum. Among the politicians present was Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, who mostly spent his time dealing with the issue of gas supplies from Russia. Enterpreurs, however, made up for the shortfall of political bigwigs. This year out of the more than  2,300 participants, half are businesspeople.

"In Davos all the bosses of the world's largest corporations meet in the same place at the same time," said Tomasz Sielicki, the president of ComputerLand, which is a member of the WEF. "The forum offers a great opportunity to meet people at panels, lunches, cocktail parties and even talk with them in the corridors," he added.

Participants in the forum can take part in official meetings and panels, attended by the political decision makers, as well as debates and lunches organized by individual companies. "Making contacts is an important part of our participation," Sielicki says, adding that the most important part is "intellectual refreshment" - learning the trends of global economy and how decision makers think.

The ComputerLand president confirms the active role that Asian giants are playing in Davos. "India is almost everywhere," Sielicki notes, adding that both private as well as state money are involved in promoting the country.

He regrets that there are no coordinated actions on the Polish side to promote the country. "It's really worth it. If we want to fight for foreign investments and outsourcing we have to be more active at marketing ourselves," Sielicki says.