"Right now, no one knows if Iran is trying to cross the weapons threshold." Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution

"Regionalism is the right way forward for the mutually-beneficial advance of the states involved, as the EU and ASEAN have showed." Pervez Musharraf (webcast I session), President of Pakistan

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Empowering poorer countries to close the income gap with the rich, thus boosting their potential as consumer markets, is in the long term interests of industrialized nations. Regional cooperation agreements, targeted infrastructure investment, easier access to capital and removing farm subsidies in the richer nations can help achieve this end.

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Iran's nuclear ambitions are the biggest immediate concern for the international community in the Middle East region, overshadowing Iraq and the Israel-Palestine conflict despite the election victory of Hamas. While there is no consensus on whether Tehran really wants nuclear weaponry, high pressure diplomacy is the only effective way to handle the issue. A military attack would be dangerously counterproductive for the West.

Despite the fact that hundreds of millions have been lifted out of abject poverty over the past decades, income disparities between world regions and within nations are growing. "Global imbalances are deepening, and that has serious consequences for developing countries like India," warns Palaniappan Chidambaram, Minister of Finance of India. Yet, it is in the longer term interests of the richer powers, and their business communities, to narrow the divide and help create populations of consumers within the poorer countries rather than see armies of the desperate surging across borders in the hope of finding a better life. "The integration of the four fifths of the world that is poor with the one-fifth that is wealthy has the potential to be one of the two or three most important economic developments of the past millennium, along with the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution," argued Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University, USA; Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting 2006.

Formal regional agreements on trade, like NAFTA, and political-commercial pacts underpinning groupings like the EU and ASEAN, have raised living standards in their member states. However, non-formal cooperation between countries through free movement of capital and goods are achieving similar ends. "Regionalism is the right way forward for the mutually-beneficial advance of the states involved, as the EU and ASEAN have showed," said President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.

Helping Africa, and other poorer regions, to help themselves by developing infrastructure can be inspiring. "Making money and doing real cool stuff at the same time is a magical formula. Business needs to talk less and do more," commented Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Monsanto Company, USA. "There are a billion people who cannot be business consumers unless they are helped to climb out of poverty," argued Antony Burgmans, Chairman, Unilever, Netherlands. But as Chidambaram warned, "Developed countries must show much more concern for the capital requirements of developing countries." Certainly, business can more actively press major governments to remove trade barriers with poorer countries, and especially to remove farm subsidies. Africa "can only grow when it is allowed to trade freely and openly and fairly. That means these trade-distorting subsidies must be removed by 2010," said Niall Fitzgerald, Chairman, Reuters, United Kingdom; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.

Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom; Barham Salih, Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation of Iraq; Ahmed Chalabi, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq; Robert B. Zoellick, US Deputy Secretary of State; Hajim Alhasani, President of the Iraq National Assembly; John McCain, Senator from Arizona (Republican), USA; Sheikh Hamam Hammoudi, President, Constitutional Drafting Council, Iraq; and Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, League of Arab States, during the session "What Is at Stake in Iraq?" (webcast)

But the greatest will in the world to remove trade barriers will fail if the global geopolitical environment remains volatile. The West's nuclear stand-off with Iran bears the seeds of a grave crisis affecting much of the world. If Tehran halts oil exports, or they are halted by Western military action, prices will likely soar well beyond their current highs and the repercussion on key Western economies, and global markets, will be dramatic.

The real aims of Iran's nuclear programme are unclear. One view is that serious economic problems and a rapidly growing population are pushing it towards diversifying its energy resources. Others think differently. "Right now, no one knows if Iran is trying to cross the weapons threshold," said Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution, USA. "But it is prudent to believe that they are developing a nuclear weapons capacity," said Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom. "There is no threat (to Iran) from anyone in that region," argued Saxby Chambliss, Senator from Georgia (Republican), USA. Motivation for any weapon development could therefore only be offensive.

There is consensus that the response should be "carrot-and-stick" diplomacy. However, the West may have to make more generous offers – including economic cooperation that involves investment and trade – to persuade Tehran to play ball. Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations, USA, said: "I don't see that there is enough on the (negotiating) table at the moment."

Certainly, there is little enthusiasm for an attack on Iran's nuclear centres. A common view is that this would spark a huge geopolitical crisis in the region and far beyond, and only delay Iranian arms development while pushing the population to more radical political positions.

The electoral victory by Hamas, seen as linked to Iran and viewed officially as a terrorist organization by many Western governments, adds a further complicating factor. Should the reaction of the West be to isolate or engage? "We all have a difficult time managing risk. We live in a polarized world in which the risks have increased colossally," said 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed M. ElBaradei, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. "If you fix the Middle East, North Korea and South Asia, you would fix 90% of our problems."