For decades the tiny Swiss town of Davos has been the undisputed king of hosting global summits, a site where world leaders and great thinkers gather every winter.
Now competition has emerged from an unlikely rival. Scrambling to attract foreign investment, Athens wants to convert a barren Greek island into a summer, sun-kissed Davos-like setting. The aim: to invite crowds of well-heeled chief executives to shape the global agenda on the arts and philosophy.
“It’s a plan we have been working on for months and we aim to start looking for investors soon,” a senior finance ministry official said. Floated by the government before its September re-election, the plan attracted little attention at the time. Many Greeks dismissed it as a pretentious campaign promise by the hard-left Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister.
But deputy finance minister Dimitris Mardas said at the weekend that the so-called summer Davos project was, in fact, going ahead. He said the government had already picked Aegilia, a tiny island eight miles southwest of Marathon, to host the annual event. “The idea is for this to become a centre for the arts and philosophy, hosting international conferences and meetings of global leaders, on a par with the World Economic Forum at Davos,” Mr Mardas told an Athens-based television channel. He said the government was preparing to send out invitations to all UN member states offering each country the chance “to build its own quarter of luxury, forming a cluster of conference buildings on the isle”.
According to ancient Greek lore, Persians kept hundreds of Greek prisoners captive on Aegilia during the battle of Marathon. It now houses only goats, rabbits and sheep.
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About 2,000 multimillionaires attend Davos every year, paying roughly $40,000 each to network, socialise and debate over a week of champagne receptions, sessions and meetings.
“There’s no reason why we can’t attract similar crowds for an audience focused on the arts and philosophy,” the finance ministry official said.
Athens says the Aegilia plan is part of an investment scheme including the building of ski chalets and concert halls near Mount Olympus, mythical home of the Greek gods. “We have a code name for the concert halls scheme,” the official said. “It’s Shirley Bassey.”