Incident-free WEF meeting draws to a close

Members of the Swiss army had various jobs during the WEF meeting, from basic infrastructure tasks to personal security details. Keystone

This year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos passed by incident free, according to the Swiss army. Nearly 4500 troops were deployed in Davos from January 13 to help canton Graubünden with the large influx of people and numerous high-ranking politicians and business leaders.

The troops were discharged from their security mission on Sunday. Army personnel had also been responsible for protecting specific attendees, controlling access to sites and logistics during the event.

Police officers from around the country also supported the army’s work.

“Our soldiers…demonstrated the capabilities of our militia army,” said Swiss army major general Jean-Marc Halter.

The vast majority of the WEF meeting’s setup and infrastructure will be dismantled by the end of the week.

A no-fly zone that was set up over Davos for the duration of the meeting succeeded, and was also lifted on Sunday. The Swiss air force policed the zone and carried out monitoring and transport flights.

The army also had a new role at the Dübendorf air field in canton Zurich. 15 planes with around 50 passengers headed for Davos landed there in total.

Overall, security costs added up to CHF8 million. The government will cover 40% of this, canton Graubünden and WEF will stump up 25% each and the community of Davos, 10%.