The startling arrival in Stockholm last Wednesday of senior commanders and negotiators for the Colombian FARC guerrillas, accompanied by the Colombian Peace Commissioner and members of a government delegation, reflects the shock therapy tactics used by President Pastrana in his audacious commitment to peace-making.
In truth the trip, scheduled to include Norway, Spain, and possibly France and Germany, sends an unequivocal message to sceptics in Bogota and Washington that the first, concrete breakthrough in the long-delayed peace talks has occurred.
For months talks were bogged down. The government, desperate to recoup public support for the peace process, sought to put human rights issues at the top of an agreed 12-point agenda.
The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) insisted that, given existing economic conditions in Colombia, where, according to latest UN figures, one in three Colombians lives in misery, an analysis of the country's economic and social conditions must take priority.
Ten days ago, following a visit to the rebels by Colombia's Finance Minister and three days of intensive consultations with a team of senior government economists, both sides announced an agreement to seek a new economic blueprint for Colombia's future "in the context of a globalised world" - leaving aside "radical models".
Since the talks began 14 months ago it is known that FARC leaders have been studying economics. Last spring, one of Colombia's most brilliant economists, a consultant to the World Bank, accepted an invitation to visit FARC leaders. He spent 17 hours answering questions. FARC has stepped away from orthodox Marxist ideology in pursuit of something that can only be called "socialism a la Colombiana" and the two sides in the talks have set themselves a six-month deadline for coming up with an acceptable new economic model to "create jobs, distribute income, permit economic growth and social development".
Wearing smart new suits and ties and equipped with fresh passports, the rebels have emerged from their remote, clandestine headquarters to get a first-hand look at how Scandinavia's social democratic societies manage their capitalist economies with cradle-to-the-grave security and benefits for all.
The FARC's trip to Scandinavia has been paid for by the International Council of Swedish Industry and organised by the Colombian government with crucial help from a newcomer to Colombian peace efforts, Mr Kofi Annan's Special Representative for international assistance to Colombia, former Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr Jan Egeland.
Appointed last December, Mr Egeland, who has mediated conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Central America, is expected to join the talks when the two Colombian delegations arrive today in Oslo.
Mr Egeland's appointment has been welcomed by the guerrillas. For too long the FARC has mistakenly perceived the United Nations to be carrying water for United States policy in the hemisphere.
But a critical lunch meeting inside the demilitarised zone three weeks ago, between Mr Egeland and the legendary 70-year-old founder-leader of the FARC, Mr Manuel Marulanda Velez (Tiro Fijo), confirmed that a new confidence in the role of the UN exists at the highest levels of the FARC's leadership.
An additional priority shared by the government and the guerrillas, one that is sure to feature prominently in their meetings with political and financial figures during the current diplomatic offensive, is to stimulate international assistance for crop-substitution programmes to help farmers switch from illicit drug crops to legal products. Spain has offered to be the clearing house for such aid.