His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday urged Nobel laureates gathering here to reach out to the Middle East's youth and guide them to a future of opportunities, peace and security.

“In the Middle East, more than half the population is 18 or younger. They have no memory of a time without regional conflict. They see a huge global gap between rich and poor. They see diseases that wealthy nations have wiped out, that are still crippling people in the developing world,” King Abdullah said at the opening of the two-day Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates.

“They won't accept empty words and promises. They want to make a difference. To share in the fruits of modern knowledge. To help create a positive and generous future — a future in which they, and all people, live in freedom and respect. It is up to us to give them the tools they need. And we must make a beginning now...”

During the conference, around 29 Nobel Prize winners and other leaders will examine and try to find solutions to issues like terror and peace, economic development and poverty, health and environment, and education and media.

“Today, humanity is at a critical crossroad,” the King said. “Ours can be an open world of expanded horizons and new opportunities. Or it can be a closed world, of endemic crises, and lost chances.”

King Abdullah, however, highlighted reform plans across the region and “an unprecedented opportunity to succeed” in achieving justice for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis. “The vast majority, East and West, North and South, reject the cause and call of extremism,” he said.

The gathering, co-hosted by the King Abdullah II Fund for Human Development and the New York-based Eli Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, comes just ahead of a World Economic Forum summit on the banks of the Dead Sea. The summit will provide the Nobel laureates with “a platform” to present their vision, according to Minister of Finance Bassem Awadallah.

Eli Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who co-sponsored a similar conference in 1988 when French President Francois Mitterrand hosted some 75 Nobel laureates, said that “at the dawn of the 21st century, the planet is already in peril. The world is thirsty for stability.” “Will wars persist, will disarmament remain utopia? Terrorism, particularly suicide attacks, are preaching a culture of death. What can we do to stop that?” added Wiesel, who is also a writer.

Other attendees include the Dalai Lama, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, former Northern Ireland Protestant leader David Trimble, a 1998 peace laureate, and Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, who won the 1986 literature prize, as well as Hollywood actor Richard Gere. Former US president Bill Clinton was to join the gathering on Thursday.