Delegates of this year's business conference have closed the winter season with a bang.

The 11th international business conference organized by RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) was held in the Swiss city of Gstaad last week (see page 15 for the conference's program). Sober economic debates blended with skiing, jumping into the swimming pool and all-night dancing. Yevgenia Milova takes a look at how Russian businessmen spent their time in the Swiss Alps…

The city of Gstaad surprised and gladdened participants of the conference: "This is like three Courchevels! We'll have fun!" was the conclusion made by those who were lucky enough to travel to Gstaad with the Dagestani delegation. Gitinomagomed Gadzhimagomedov, Senior Vice Prime Minister of the Dagestan Republic; his assistant Magomed Abdulayev; Magomed-sultan Magomedov, General Director of Dagnefteproduct; Vladimir Grigoryants, Director of the Kizlyar Brandy Distillery house, and Magomedsalam Musayev, Director of the All-Russian Exhibition Center, who joined them, were already trying to make serious businessmen feel like they were on holiday on the way from Zurich airport. Having organized an unscheduled bus stop, they revealed a box of cognac and a paper cup from their luggage. Timid refusals were denied, and not only Institute of Globalization Studies Chairman Mikhail Delyagin, lawyer Pavel Astakhov and Echo of Moscow Radio Station Editor-in-Chief Alexey Venediktov, but also senator Lyudmila Narusova, lawyer Natalia Barshchevskaya and Council on human rights under the Russian President Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova were coaxed into having a quick beverage.

Ex-head of YUKOS-Moscow Vasily Shakhnovsky, who lives in Lausanne, visited the Palace Hotel Gstaad on the first evening. "I have come for purely nostalgic reasons," he said explaining his arrival and drinking Chivas Regal whisky. "I've not seen Venediktov for ages, for example!" "I've been away for so long that even my kids have started speaking English to each other," he complained.

"Well, and where is Ms. Timoshenko? [Ukraine's PM Yulia Timoshenko - "Kommersant"] Why was the woman with the plait not invited?" participants of the conference, carefully reading its name ("Russian and Ukrainian business under new conditions: risks and prospects"), continuously asked RBC Information Systems General Director Yury Rovensky. "There's no promise that Timoshenko will come, but Nemtsov [Ukrainian President's advisor -"Kommersant"] will definitely be here," the conference's brainchild assured.

After dinner, participants of the conference dispersed to prepare themselves for the morning's plenary meeting. However, not everyone attended the meeting. Compulsive skiers Sergey Zverev, president of the Public Relations Development Company, Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange General Director Alexander Potemkin and Whales Group General Director Aida Rushmanova, climbed the mountains to catch the last snow on the pistes. VimpelCom Honorary President Dmitry Zimin raced against snowboarders with Suiss Realty Group, Ilya Kononenko and Ilya Sheshnev.

That evening, the conference's participants were ski-lifted up the mountain to have dinner at the Eggli restaurant. It was in the queue for the buffet where the Dagestani delegation revealed the real reason for their visit. "Vladimir Putin has commissioned us to hold an economic forum in Makhachkala. We would like to gain an insight into RBC's experience," Magomedsalam Magomedov, son of the republic's President, said. After the restaurant, participants were supposed to sledge down the mountain. However, this extreme amusement was canceled due to bad weather conditions - the snow had melted away.

Meanwhile, Alexander Livshits, Deputy General Director of the RusAl-Management Company, and Nadezhda Reshetova, Head of the government authority relations department of Philip Morris Sales and Marketing, Alexey Venediktov, Sergey Zverev, Aida Rushmanova and Boris Nemtsov, (whose arrival was promised), were having dinner in the hotel's restaurant. "I called Chubais and said: I have three versions of the assassination attempt. The first one - you seduced somebody's wife. And he told me: No, you are obviously confusing me with someone else," Mr. Nemtsov said. "Boris, you'd better tell us, is it in Kiev where you got such a good tan?" Mr. Livshits asked. "We'll all move there immediately!" he added. "No, I've just retuned from Egypt," the Ukrainian President's assistant answered. Afterwards, Mr. Nemtsov began to try out his speech about the situation in Ukraine that he was to make on the next day.

By the final dinner, honored artist of the Russian Federation Anita Tsoy appeared among "the convention's delegates" (this was how the forum's participants started calling each other on the second day). Chairman of YUKOS's Board of Directors Viktor Gerashchenko seated Ms. Tsouy at his table and began to share his impressions from the balloon flight he had made that morning. "Well, I had to change my trousers," Gerashchenko started, as the eyes of the honored artist widened with shock. "Because it's very hot up there. In general, I felt like Winnie the Pooh trying to eat honey disguised as a cloud," he added. From literature, the conversation turned to music, and Mr. Gerashchenko confessed that he had been rather a jazz-lover for a long time. "After I'd visited London for the first time, on my return home my fellow students began to ask me about The Beatles, who were gaining popularity at the time. But I blinked and missed them, I was so uninterested in them." Then, Ms. Tsoy, who was to sing only four songs at the final party, promised to expand her program especially for Mr. Gerashchenko.

Finally, Anita Tsoy got up on stage. "Well, she looks like Jennifer Ivanovna Lopez," somebody in the crowd cried. Maintaining the best restaurant entertainment traditions, Tsoy announced, "The next song is for the man, thanks to whose efforts, each of us has credit cards." Mr. Gerashchenko approached the stage at a jump and began to kiss Ms. Tsoy's hands. Dancing was in full swing when the Honored artist of the Russian Federation announced the final act and sang Russia's national anthem. The dance floor froze. Businessmen who had earlier been dancing harmoniously, did not know where to put their arm and legs, and stood in amazement, as if to say "what on Earth is she singing?" Having recovered from the shock of all this wild dancing, Yevgeny Adamov, Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Industrial Bank, invited lawyer Natalia Barshchevskaya to have the last dance with him. To the sounds of Michael Jackson and AC/DC, the conference's businessmen agreed to meet at an economic forum in London.