At the end of June a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was held on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan. This was organised to discuss the ongoing implementation of the “roadmap” within the framework of the peace process. Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea was selected as the conference centre for this event with 1200 congress participants from around the world, and consequently hosted a very large number of high-ranking politicians, kings and business magnates.

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan together with his consort Queen ÊRania, US Foreign Secretary Colin Powell, UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, the Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Crown Prince of Bahrain, Russia’s Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, the Swiss Minister of State Micheline Calmi-Rey, WEF founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab and a seemingly endless list of senior political and business figures were able to take part in an event that Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea got off the ground in only a few weeks. With the support of additional employees from Mövenpick enterprises in Beirut, Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo, Madinah, Petra and Aqaba, the approx. 600 hotel staff worked 20-hour days to ensure the smooth organisation of this major event.
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“The organisation entailed was immense. No less than four Hercules aircraft brought materials to us from Europe, 5 km of cables were laid and 400 computers were connected up in our hotel,” said Edgar Solenthaler, General Manager of the Mövenpick Resort. “We served 1100 dishes to the delegates every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Jordanian evening with the title ‘Trust in Jordan’ was held in our amphitheatre and in the pool area of our Spa, and featured the Royal Jordanian Orchestra and a literary contribution from the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. According to the US Ministry of State, it is very unusual for Colin Powell to stay for four successive nights in the same hotel, so it is a source of particular pleasure for me that he felt so comfortable with us here.”

“The Mövenpick Resort & Spa made a significant contribution to the success of the WEF congress in Jordan,” declared King Abdullah II in his closing address, and invited the WEF to return to Jordan in the year 2004.
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