The past week has been a big one on the UAE conference circuit. There were three important gatherings: The World Government Summit (WGS) and the Global Commodity Conference in Dubai, and the Milken Institute MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Summit in Abu Dhabi. I got to spend some time at all three, and got lots out of them. It would be wrong to try and rank them, because they seek to accomplish different things, but I came away from them with highlights, and several observations. More calendar coordination is required, and a basic rule of not having more than one big event per week. Having the capacity to stage three big events, on top of a number of smaller ones, is testament to the growing power of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as forum venues. But it makes life very difficult for attendees, and especially media professionals trying to cover them. Post-conference stress syndrome is on the rise among media folk. The WGS is now a well-established feature on the Dubai business calendar, but it should consider a rebranding exercise. It is not really a government summit, but a governance one. Government summits are gatherings such as the G20 and the UN General Assembly, where attendance by heads of state is expected. Although the WGS does have a smattering of top political leaders from around the world, it is really a gathering of policymakers rather than leaders. It should stop trying too hard to be Davos, and carve out its own niche in governance best practice. On the other hand, the Global Commodity Conference could be accused of trying to fit too much into a single day. It covered everything from oil to pulses, with gold and diamonds in between. I got the impression that some of the sessions could be usefully left for another day. There was some muttering that the most popular session, on gold and precious metals, had been left too late in the day. Others, such as the one on the future of trade, which I moderated, were rather crammed. It felt a bit like a commodities speed dating event. The Milken Institute Summit struck the perfect balance: Over two days it mixed some very serious, even arcane subjects such as private equity and market volatility, with very enjoyable lighter sessions. Frank Kane The Milken Institute Summit struck the perfect balance: Over two days it mixed some very serious, even arcane subjects such as private equity and market volatility, with very enjoyable lighter sessions. Who could forget the sight of Khaldoun Al-Mubarak, boss of the huge Abu Dhabi investment group Mubadala, wrapping a ghutrah (headdress) round the head of Michael Milken on stage, before veering off to talk some high economics? Christine Lagarde’s speech at the Arab Fiscal Forum, which precedes the formal opening of the WGS, was a masterpiece of between-the-lines messaging. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director gave Arab financial policymakers a warm glow by praising their efforts at fiscal discipline, before making them think again on big issues such as corruption, debt and white elephant projects. She should really be made a highlight of the main event next time — perhaps as a duet with Harrison Ford. World trade is at a crossroads, and policymakers have to decide how they will react to increasing protectionism and tariffs in the coming months. Some, like the experts on the panel I moderated, believe that digital technology and e-commerce will be so transformational that we will not notice the economic effects of the new populism. I am not so sure, and I think that global trade could be facing its moment of truth in 2019. The specter of socialism is stalking the world again. You would not expect an organization such as the Milken Institute, capitalist in tooth and claw, to have much truck with left-wing ideology, but the fear of latter-day socialism was much in evidence at the first night’s dinner in Abu Dhabi’s St. Regis hotel. As the rest of us ticked into our entrees, Michael Milken shared a stage with Virgin supremo Richard Branson and US investor Kevin O’Leary to scare each other with the threat from the rising left wing in the US and elsewhere, with its calls for a 70 percent income tax and wealth taxes on the rich. It nearly put them off their dessert. Frank Kane is an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai. Twitter: @frankkanedubai Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view