SWITZERLAND: More than 2,000 leading political and business figures will arrive today in the Swiss mountain village of Davos for five days of high-powered hobnobbing.
For more than 30 years the World Economic Forum's annual meeting has brought politicians together with "business leaders" - as businessmen are known in Davos-speak - to reflect on the big issues facing the world.
This year's meeting opens with separate addresses from the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, and Britain's Mr Tony Blair, who will outline his country's plans for its chairmanship this year of the G8 group of industrialised countries.
Tomorrow afternoon Mr Blair will take part in a discussion on global poverty with the former US president, Mr Bill Clinton, the South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, Microsoft's Mr Bill Gates and U2's Bono.
WEF's founder, Mr Klaus Schwab, compares the Davos meeting to a monastic retreat where participants can reflect on how to improve the world. When Mr Schwab talks about this year's theme "Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices", he adopts the tone of a hard-headed preacher.
"What the world demands from every one of us at this moment is optimistic pragmatism. Optimism, because it is only with an enthusiastic willingness and openness to work with others in partnership that we will achieve our goals; pragmatism, because we must work with the world as it is, with governments and administrations that may not be totally to our liking, with companies or organisations that may not always live up to our expectations," he said.
Davos is unashamedly elitist, operating on the principle that getting the world's movers and shakers together in an informal setting is a more efficient method of solving problems than going through cumbersome exercises in parliamentary democracy or grassroots political movements.
The Palestinian president, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, will have a chance this week to chat to a couple of Israeli ministers, and Iran's vice-president, Mr Masoumeh Ebtekar, will rub shoulders with various bigwigs from Washington, including the new Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Robert Zoellick.
Apart from Bono, Irish participants include the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, the former EU commissioner, Mr Peter Sutherland, Concern's Mr Tom Arnold and the businessman Mr Denis O'Brien.
In more than 200 sessions this week, participants will discuss everything from the future of outsourcing to the problem of obesity (in a session called Living A Little Too Large).
The standard of the debate is usually high, but most participants share certain attitudes, including a firm faith in the beneficial power of free trade and a commitment to corporate social responsibility.
The rise of the global justice movements in the 1990s took Davos by surprise, leaving some regular participants puzzled as to why anyone should feel unhappy about how globalisation works.
When the World Social Forum was launched, some in Davos even suggested that the two events should merge - an idea that found little support in Porto Allegre.
Much of the business of Davos happens outside the conference centre, at dozens of parties hosted by big companies or very rich individuals, including the publisher Steve Forbes, who throws a lavish bash each year.