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Posted on 13th June 2016
Free speech - the secret of Bilderberg 2016

On Thursday 9 June, 126 of the world's most powerful figures gathered in Dresden, Germany, for the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group, one of the most important and influential conferences that many people have never heard of.

The group's website details the three-day meeting as “an annual forum for informal discussions, designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America.”

It adds: “Thanks to the private nature of the meeting, the participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.”

Following the event no minutes are published and attendees are bound by strict confidentiality rules. The secrecy surrounding this gathering has led to fervent speculation by conspiracy theorists the world over who suggest that the group constitutes a shadowy world government.

However, Professor Andrew Kakabadse, Professor of Governance and Leadership at Henley Business School and author of Bilderberg People, the formative text which explores the private world and personal interactions between the ‘transnational power elite,’ offers a very different view.

He dismisses conspiracy theorists who suggest that Bilderberg discussions are kept secret to support the covert creation of a ‘New World Order.

“The secrecy actually ensures that the people who attend the Bilderberg conference feel relaxed,” explains Professor Kakabadse. “If you made Bilderberg too transparent you would expose the conference to lobbying from different interests.

“The Bilderbergs are probably the most influential global network of all time. It’s an honour to be invited. Part of it is recognition for work done, and the other part is for your contribution to world affairs.

“Through exclusive interviews with attendees we have uncovered subtle power relationships which are embedded in the very fabric of elite institutions and interactions, shedding light on who runs the world, and how and why they do it.

“The most important point to recognise is that Bilderberg is not a conspiracy. Its participants engage in a slow shaping of agendas that position Anglo American transactional capital and shareholder value as the world’s dominant governance platform. All of this is very subtle, and only a few enlightened observers ask whether there is an alternative?”

Among those who attended this year's meeting were leaders of some of the world's most powerful companies, including Deutsche Bank, Airbus and Royal Dutch Shell, prime ministers and finance ministers from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and also IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum.