They are here to voice out their thoughts, to predict the future. Participants are in agreement that, with the Cold War over, the US stands the country most capable of steering, intervening and having its own way, even if its acts enrage the others. They expect China to continue to rise, and Russia to continue to fall. They foresee Japan's problems to persist in the absence of a resolute government. The impact on the political and social conditions in Asia of the southeast Asian financial crisis will continue to be felt particularly in countries such as Indonesia.
Brazil is as likely to stay a risky zone as the whole of Latin America.
Despite US President Clinton's impeachment trial, US foreign policy will remain unchanged. Peace in the Middle East will be as unpredictable as ever and if Netanyahu wins, that will the end of it. Rather, it should be viewed as an urbanizing movement which seeks to rebuild Egypt anew. It has brought into existence for all the world to see a forward-looking Egypt which differs in all aspects from the country the world might have known at any previous stage in history. While the chapters of Egyptian history over the past 7 thousand years have unfolded within the boundaries of the Nile Valley and Delta, episodes of the future will be enacted in new areas of the country untouched as yet by the hand of civilization.