Optimism pervaded the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, which brought together more than 1,200 participants from 56 countries in Jordan over the weekend.

The mood was one of optimism, urgency and a sense of responsibility.

The participants trumpeted their belief that the Middle East is undergoing a business-led transformation. They claimed that a new Middle East - young, entrepreneurial and empowered - is taking shape. The social fabric of the region is changing.

Oil wealth and an economic boom in some parts of the region such as the Gulf states help build the confidence of the politicians and business people in and outside the region. The gathering concluded that the sanguine mood should be converted into investment in people, particularly the region's youth.

How can the picture the participants painted for the Middle East be so rosy when the region is still riven by seemingly intractable conflicts?

The meeting took place against the backdrop of regional crises - mounting conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon and the worsening Palestinian-Israeli confrontation.

This part of the world is home to diversified and conflicting opinions, religions and ethnic groups - Iranians and Israelis, Sunnis and Shiites, radical religious figures and advocates of secular government, political refugees and representatives of regional political elites.

The Middle East has yet to achieve the kind of economic momentum making development irreversible.

The forum embraced a wide range of issues from destinies of young people and prospects for economic development to the environment and resolution of regional problems.

Stability and prosperity are possible in the region only if all the elements of regional diversity are in harmony rather than in conflict.

It is necessary for the region to reduce its long-standing over-dependence on oil revenues.

Historic enmities and blunt extremism must be defused for new opportunities to take root.

In so doing, the region's potential will finally be unlocked.

(China Daily May 24, 2007)