It's 9am in the Geneva Palexpo, and they've finally opened the wsis cybercafe. About a third of the machines appear to be frozen, but fortunately I got here early enough to jump on one of the working models.
I got here just after 9am, riding in from town with Subbiah Arunachalam from India... He and I had been corresponding via email for several years, so it was good to finally meet him in person. I actually recognized him from the picture included in the interview he recently did for OneWorld South Asia, so it was quite fortunate I'd looked at it -- otherwise I would have never recognized him.
Security at wsis was much smoother this morning, probably because I arrived so early. There were only a couple of people in line waiting to go through the xray machines, which was a major relief. As we passed by the coat check desk, Arun noted that the coat check cost a dollar - not much by western standards, but an added burden for visitors from the developing world. I noted how the small water bottles available in the summit were going for an astounding three dollars a bottle - more expensive then what you would pay at a sporting venue, given the small size of the bottle. These little costs add up, and it seemed rather insensitive for a UN conference to expect civil society delegates from the south to pay for this type of price gouging.
Kanti Kumar and I were then interviewed by the Bangkok Post regarding our forum yesterday. The interview went well but Kanti is losing his voice due to a sore throat. Later today I am supposed to be interviewed by BBC World, though we still need to finalize on the time... ac
Posted by acarvin at December 10, 2003 03:50 AM | TrackBack