THE Cairo Middle East and North Africa economic conference opened yesterday amid tight security in the Egyptian capital.
This is the third such meeting and was designed to reinforce the peace process through regional economic integration. But with hopes dashed for an eleventh hour agreement between Israel and the Palestinians over the issue of Hebron, the conference is likely to be less about peace and more about business.
In contrast to the previous economic conferences in Amman and Casablanca, which saw Arab and Israeli businessmen come together in a spirit of optimism and co-operation, many Arabs are now rethinking their relations with Israel and say they should concentrate instead on inter-Arab links.
Because of the deteriorating situation in the region, Syria and Lebanon boycotted the event, as did Palestinian businessmen and the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat.
The controversial Israeli Infrastructure minister, Gen Ariel Sharon, also decided to skip the meeting, saying that the atmosphere was not conducive to furthering economic relations. Other countries downgraded their delegations, sending only politicians concerned with finance or industry.
Growing frustration with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and his intransigence over the peace process led the Egyptians to consider cancelling the conference last summer.
Eventually they went ahead with the meeting because, in the words of the Egyptian foreign minister, Mr Amr Moussa, "the region should not be held hostage to Israeli policies".
But the government has made it clear that the Israelis may receive a frosty reception from their Arab counterparts.
Egypt will use the event to showcase its own economic reform programme which, after limping slowly along for years, has sped up considerably over the past 12 months.
All this will take place against a backdrop of furious networking by some 2,000 local and international businessmen.
More than 3,000 businessmen, diplomats and politicians from 90, countries are expected to take participate in the three-day meeting.