Nobel laureates from across the globe gathered in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra on Wednesday with the lofty goal of seeking solutions to the world's problems.
Hollywood actor Richard Gere joined Peace Prize winner the Dalai Lama for the illustrious meeting of top thinkers which host King Abdullah II said was aimed at finding a new start for a planet wracked by conflict and poverty.
"The world is at a critical crossroad," the Jordanian monarch said in his opening speech. "A process begins here - a process that all of you will shape - and by your effort, help shape our world."
Highlighting the conflict in the Middle East, he said the world needed to make a "new beginning" to create more freedom and opportunity, build peace and expand global cooperation, with a particular focus on youth.
Fellow host, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, said the conference would tackle the surges of war, terrorism, social injustice and environmental problems.
"At the dawn of the 21st century, the planet is already in peril. The world is thirsty for stability," the Holocaust survivor and writer told the conference. "Will wars persist, will disarmament remain utopia?
"Terrorism, particularly suicide attacks, are preaching a culture of death. What can we do to stop that?
Gere, star of "Pretty Woman" and a close friend of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, said the two-day meeting has "a lot of possibilities because the people who are meeting are not political, they have no agenda."
Former US president Bill Clinton was to join the gathering on Thursday.
Over the course of two days, the 29 laureates and other leaders will examine and try to find solutions for problems in four main areas, including terror and peace, economic development and poverty, health and environment, and education and media.
King Abdullah said the world's future direction was especially critical for the young, highlighting the situation in the Middle East where half the population was under the age of 18.
"They have no memory of a time without regional conflict. They see a huge gap between rich and poor. They see diseases that wealthy nations have wiped out, that are still crippling people in the developing world."
The monarch pointed to a wave of reform aimed at democracy and development in the region, and said there was an "unprecedented opportunity" to bring peace to the Middle East, with justice for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis.
The conference is taking place amid centuries-old rose-coloured ruins of Petra, a World Heritage Site some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Amman, and comes just ahead of a World Economic Forum summit on the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan.
Wiesel co-sponsored a similar conference in 1988, when French President Francois Mitterrand hosted some 75 Nobel laureates.
Other attendees include Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who won the 1994 peace prize along with slain Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, former Northern Ireland Protestant leader David Trimble, a 1998 peace laureate, and Nigerian author Wole Soyinka who won the 1986 literature prize.
The acclaimed novelist and travel writer V.S. Naipul, a literature laureate from 2001 will also be present, along with several winners from the fields of chemistry, medicine, economics and physics.
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