See Naples and fry
BASRA AT boiling point, Pusan by troop- ship, Bootle on a wet Sunday — any list of the world's worst destinations must surely feature Naples in sultry July. It has its attractions to me, though — or rather to my plan to make the world a level playing field by stamping out summits. At the end of this year's meeting, the Italians asked everyone back to Naples for next year's. With any luck, this will be the summit to end summits. If it took 36,000 policemen to mount guard in law-abiding Tokyo, what will protection cost in Naples? And who will expect to be paid? This year's, it occurs to me, might have been more cheerful with a guest from a growing economy — if only as a change from Jacques Delors and Boris Yeltsin. He could explain how he plans to slow the growth rate down to 8 or 9 per cent, which looks sustainable. The man to ask would be the powerful vice-premier who has moved in on the central bank as governor (independence is for westerners) and is hoisting interest rates. Of course, China's may be only the world's third biggest economy, so it scarcely qualifies for the summit, but it might be instructive to ask Zhu Rongji another time — unless, of course, he knows about Naples.
Previous page
