World business and political leaders will begin descending on the Swiss Alps this week for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, which begins on Thursday.
The theme of this year's conference is Sustaining Growth and Bridging the Divides: A Framework for Our Global Future. In this context, the main economic topic will be the future of the US economy and the likelihood or not of a soft landing.
Delegates will have to brave snow which is forecast for every day until the end of the week as well as protesters who made their debut at Davos last year. The front windows of McDonald's were broken and the windows of some official cars, used to ferry politicians and celebrities from the airport to Davos, were smashed.
But protesting is a more difficult business in Davos than in Seattle. The town is in a remote valley, surrounded by mountains and glaciers 9,000 feet high. Getting there is difficult and finding a place to stay almost impossible.
The biggest problem of all is probably the heavy policing with security roadblocks at either side of the valley and riot police ferried in from all over Switzerland. They have a large crowd-control arsenal including water cannon and tear gas - not to mention machine guns. Perhaps because of the growing demonstrations there will be an increasing number of representatives from the non-governmental organisations attending the meeting.
These will include: Mr Thilo Bode, international executive director of Greenpeace; Mr Pierre San, secretary-general of Amnesty International; and Ms Anuradha Vittachi, director of the OneWorld International Foundation. U2's Bono will also be there along with other artists and writers including Paul Kennedy, Peter Gabriel, Martha Nussbaum and Brian Eno.
There will be a few other Irish faces including Goldman Sachs's Mr Peter Sutherland; EU Commissioner Mr David Byrne; and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs Mary Robinson.
Others attending include: Mr Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations; Mr Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority; Mr Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa; Mr Yoshiro Mori, Prime Minister of Japan; and Mr George Pataki, Governor of New York.
EU politicians include: Mr Hans Eichel, German Minister of Finance, and his French counterpart, Mr Laurent Fabius; Mr Joshcka Fischer, German Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ms Pia Gjellerup, Danish Minister of Finance; Italy's Mr Vincenzo Visco, Minister of the Treasury, Budget and Economic Planning; European Commissioners Mr Pascal Lamy and Mr Mario Monti, as well as Mr Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway.
The backbone of the delegate list will be the chief executives from the Fortune 1,000 companies.
