Everyone at the same well
The Forbes CEO conference ran two days. The week around it belonged to the Grand Prix , and to the migration it summons: heads of state, conglomerate chiefs, technologists and philanthropists, all descending on Singapore at once — filling the hotels, charming the receptions, and leaving the pavements rather worse than they found them. The island absorbs it with its usual patience. I went for the two days of talks, and sat in rooms where ministers of government shared a table with managers of funds running many billions. I went to listen. What I took home was less a forecast than a single idea, returning in different voices. Countries have started to behave like companies Heads of states, they go on roadshows now. They pitch. A prime minister courts foreign capital the way a founder courts a Series B — here is our talent, here is our stability, here is our tax treatment, come and build. Chartsiri Sophonpanich of Bangkok Bank described the result from the ground: foreign direct invest...
