Former Swiss Ambassador to the U.S. dicussed move of WEF from Davos to New York City.
Producer: Kristian
This is from a series of questions asked of Amb. Defago on 12/05/01.
Ambassador Defago gives his perspective on the moving of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings from Davos, Switzerland to the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. He notes that he has participated in the meetings the last couple of years. He focuses on the "technical problem" of security in relation to the protestors, his opinion on the protestors (he separates violent vs. non-violent) themselves, and his ideas on possible dialogue with protestors. (Note: One worthwhile follow-up at this point should have been a question on any "public diplomacy" problems with the WEF.) When asked about the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, he returns to discussions of violence. (6:39 min)
Following is a short description of Ambassador Defago given in the program literature.
"Alfred Defago, Switzerland's past ambassador to the U.S., is currently International Visiting Professor at the UW-Madison. Ambassador Defago has a distinguished background as both a foreign and public service officer. He was named Ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S. in 1997, after serving as Consul General of Switzerland in New York from 1994. Ambassador Defago's public service career began in 1971 when he joined the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Switzerland's largest broadcast network. There he served as a member of the Foreign Affairs Department of the German-language national radio service (1971-73), head of the National and Economci Affairs Department (1973-83), and finally Editor-in-Chief of the national radio service (1984-86). As Director of the Federal Office of Culture from 1986 to 1993, Ambassador Defago oversaw all cultural activities of the Swiss Confederation, including the National Library, the National Museum and all other federal museums and art collections. Prior to his transfer to the U.S., he was Secretary General of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994."
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