The absence of a heavyweight delegation from the US administration will not hinder debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the organisers of the event claimed.

After a considerable presence at the 34th Annual Meeting in the Swiss ski resort in 2004, George W Bush's administration has a sparse presence at the 2005 event. But Ged Davis, a managing director at the World Economic Forum, said that the presence of leading European politicians, including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, would make up for the US absence.

"The issues that we are addressing affect us all," Mr Davis said. "And we have excellent representation from elsewhere."

He said that the low turn-out of Washington politicians was an unfortunate consequence of the Annual Meeting's timing.

"We lie between the inauguration and the State of the Union address, so there are practical reasons why many people can't attend. A lot of key positions in the US administration are yet to be determined", Mr Davis said.

He also pointed out that those who had turned up included such heavy hitters as Robert Zoellick, the US Trade representative and Michael Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Organisers of the World Economic Forum have responded to criticisms of the event as a mere talking shop, by asking participants to come up with specific initiatives to tackle 12 key problems that are affecting world economies.

The problems are being discussed in a so-called "Global Town Hall Meeting". Specific answers or solutions will be revealed, after a number of workships throughout the week.

Co-chairs of the conference, representing business leaders from Asia, the US, Europe and the Middle East, identified their own priorities during the opening press conference. Daniel Vasella, chairman and chief executive of Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, said the main priority was peace because without peace there could be no economic growth.

Lubna Olayan, chief executive of Olayan Financing Company, a private Saudi business, agreed that political stability was the most important goal.

John Thain, chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange and former president of Goldman Sachs, agreed with their conclusions, but added that he hoped to see progress on removing trade barriers this year.

Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies, the Indian IT group, said that his main concern was the subject of climate change.

"Whether rich or not we all face this problem. The problem of pollution will only worsen unless we all sit together and say that we are prepared to protect this planet," Mr Murthy said.