Temperatures fell well below freezing in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos last night, but the political and business leaders who have arrived here for the annual think-in will feel a deeper chill as they meet against the backdrop of chaos in the equity markets and economic turmoil.
Delegates at this year's World Economic Forum annual meeting, which aims to tackle issues facing the global economy, will have plenty to discuss over the course of the five-day gathering. The US Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point - the biggest US rate cut since 1984 - to halt plummeting stock markets will be the focus of much of the debate this week.
Economic issues dominate this year's event. Discussions will centre on the global banking crisis, the growing prominence of sovereign wealth funds and rising economic angst.
Among the Irish business figures scheduled to attend are telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien, Goldman Sachs International chairman Peter Sutherland, Reuters chairman and former Unilever chief executive Niall FitzGerald, and the Co Down-born chief executive of Coca-Cola, Neville Isdell.
Ireland's EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy is the only Irish politician attending. Other Irish delegates include former president Mary Robinson and the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin.
Up to 2,500 corporate bosses and politicians, including 24 heads of state or government and 113 cabinet members, are also due to attend.
The list of attendees reads like a who's who of international business - Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Indian billionaire industrialist Lakshmi Mittal are on the list of "registered business participants".
For the most part, Davos will provide senior politicians and business leaders with an informal opportunity to consider measures to prevent the US and European economies sliding into recession.
Not surprisingly, given the current climate, a survey of chief executives, published by PricewaterhouseCoopers in Davos last night, found that confidence on prospects for business declined for the first time since 2003 and that many believed fear of a global recession was the major threat to growth.
The timely debate, "If America sneezes, does the world still catch a cold?", will be one of the first to kick off the forum today, while former British prime minister Tony Blair will lead the forum's closing session on Sunday under the disconcerting title, "Why are we afraid of the future?"
Most participants will be able to answer that question long before Sunday.
