Denver gearing up to welcome the world-World Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce meeting 5/6-8 returning to U.S. for first time since 1978

A global forum that has attracted 600 business and government leaders from 63
nations will be in Denver next month, marking the first time the event has been held in
the United States since Jimmy Carter was president.

By Heather Draper, News Staff Writer

The biennial World Congress of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce
will be May 6-8 at the Denver Marriott City Center. The event’s last U.S. appearance
was in Orlando, Fla., in 1978.

"It’s a big world out there, so this is a coup for us to have it in Denver," said David
French, president of French & Co., a Denver real estate and restaurant venture. "This
helps put Colorado on the map. When these people go back to their communities, they’ll
talk more and more about Colorado."

ICC President Richard McCormick said the international business organization first
looked into having the event in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or Chicago.

"The Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau overwhelmed (us) with service and
enthusiasm," McCormick said. "Plus, I thought most people have been to D.C. and
Chicago before, so this would provide them a unique part of the United States they
might not have otherwise visited."

It didn’t hurt that McCormick is the former chief executive of U S West and has lived in
Denver for many years.

"And yeah, it happens to be my hometown, too," McCormick said.

Denver Mayor Wellington Webb will welcome ICC participants and Gov. Bill Owens is
the keynote speaker for the forum.

The ICC invited President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, but they declined the
invitations, said ICC spokesman Dick MacKnight.

Forum topics include the state of the world economy, technologies of the future and
their impact, the "biorevolution" of the 21st century, the next challenges for intellectual
property, transportation and security, commercial cybercrime, a "square deal" for
developing countries, responsible business conduct and world tensions and their
effects on business.

The ICC Congress already has gotten the attention of both supporters and opponents
of globalization. The AFL-CIO and other groups have said they will protest the event
and city law enforcement officials have said they will "over-staff, overdo this and
overprotect this to make a statement."

The city and ICC organizers want to avoid what happened in Seattle in 1999 when
50,000 demonstrators rioted and provoked mass arrests at the World Trade
Organization meeting. The city has set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep
the event from getting out of hand.

The ICC’s McCormick said he doesn’t expect many protesters in Denver.

"I was in Seattle, and it was so full of government people and people affiliated with the
WTO, the World Bank," he said. "This is a business meeting for the most part."

Local engineer Howard Schirmer, president of Englewood-based Transnational
Associates, said he also doesn’t foresee chaos in Denver because he was in Seattle
in 1999 and the city "was not well-prepared for handling that many people and things
did get out of hand."

Schirmer has worked on engineering projects in 50 countries. He says a global
economy is good not only for business, but also for foreign cultures.

"It’s a win-win situation as far as I can see," Schirmer said. "Certainly firms that
manufacture overseas have an economic benefit for doing so. On the other hand, the
wages are definitely improved for people working for an overseas business than the
wages they’d get from a local business."

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