A Bilderberg Press Release

A Bilderberg Press Release I don’t think I’ve ever published a press release before, but this is unmistakably a press release from last year’s Bilderberg meeting.(1) There is the occasional oddity in this, possibly caused by e-mail transmission, which I’ve highlighted, and I’ve arranged the participants by country, rather than alphabetically as in the original. Otherwise it is au naturel.

I have itallicised surnames, and the letters before each name are country identifiers except for the prefix INT, which must mean international.

Notes:

1. The 1998 Bilderberg meeting in Scotland in May was the subject of a long article in Punch, issue 55. The article referred to the Bilderberg Council, which I think is a mistake.

ATLANTA, June 12 /PRNewswire/ — The 45th Bilderberg Meeting will be held near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. June 12-15, 1997 to discuss the Atlantic Relationship in a Time of Change. Among others the Conference will discuss NATO, China, Islam, EMU, Energy, Growth, Corporate Governance.

Approximately 120 participants from North America and Europe will attend the discussions. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.

Bilderberg takes its name from the Hotel where the first meeting took place in May 1954. That meeting grew out of the concern on both sides of the Atlantic that the industrialized democracies in Europe and North America were not working together as closely as they should on matters of critical importance. It was felt that regular, off-the-record discussions would contribute to a better understanding of the complex forces and major trends affecting Western nations.

What is unique about Bilderberg as a forum is

1. the broad cross-section of leading citizens, in and out of government, that are assembled for nearly three days of purely informal discussion about topics of current concern especially in the fields of foreign affairs and the international economy,
2. the strong feeling among participants that in view of the differing attitudes and experiences of their nations, there is a continuous, clear need to develop an understanding in which these concerns can be accommodated, and
3. the privacy of the meetings, which have no purpose other than to allow participants to speak their minds openly and freely.

At the meetings, no resolutions are proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued. In short, Bilderberg is a flexible and informal international leadership-forum in which different viewpoints can be expressed and mutual understanding enhanced.

To ensure full discussion, individuals representing a wide range of political and economic points of view are invited. Two-thirds of the participants come from Europe and the remainder from the United States and Canada. Within this framework, on average about one-third are from the government sector and the remaining two-thirds from a variety of fields including finance, industry, labour, education and the media. Participants are solely invited for their knowledge, experience and standing and with reference to the topics on the agenda.

All participants attend Bilderberg in a private and not in an official capacity.

Participants have agreed not to give interviews to the press during the meeting. In contacts with the news media after the conference it is an established rule that no attribution should be made to individual participants or what was discussed during the meeting.

There will be no press conference. A list of participants is appended.

BILDERBERG MEETINGS
Pine Isle Resort near Atlanta, U.S.A.
June 12-15, 1997
CURRENT LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
STATUS 12 June 1997
Chairman: GB Carrington, Peter, Former Chairman of the Board, Christies International plc; Former Secretary General, NATO
Honorary Secretary General: NL Halberstadt, Victor Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University