WSJ(9/16) The Week Ahead / Our Take On Coming Events

(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

- By Laurie McGinley

ON WEDNESDAY, more than 1,000 people will gather in New York at the second annual Clinton Global Initiative, a project led by former President Clinton, to tackle problems involving global health, poverty, religious strife and threats to the environment.

Setting the meeting apart from other gabfests, in part, is its steep price: An admission ticket costs $15,000. More than that, most participants -- who include government leaders, corporate executives, heads of nonprofit organizations and an array of big names like Christiane Amanpour, Shimon Peres, Katie Couric and Rupert Murdoch -- must pledge to fund and carry out an initiative to help address one of the problems. And therein lies a dilemma.

A few participants at last year's fest 'pledged' to carry out programs that already were under way. In other words, the initiatives weren't specifically generated by the CGI. Moreover, not all participants followed through on their commitments. That's a no-no.

So this year, the Clinton folks have adopted a Reaganesque principle: Trust but verify. 'We have an even greater focus on ensuring that the commitments are specifically for CGI and that the commitments are real,' says spokesman Jay Carson.

To that end, CGI's 10-person 'commitments team' has been working with participants to develop pledges for this year's conference. Some commitments were made months ago. Others will emerge at the meeting itself, as attendees rub elbows and drink cocktails with 60 heads of state and celebrity philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Those who don't follow through on their pledges won't be invited back. 'Just under 20' participants from last year's conference weren't invited to this year's session, says Mr. Carson.

The event is a cross between a Hollywood premiere and a tent-revival meeting. Sessions at the three-day meeting have ambitious goals -- 'Presenting and Resolving Deadly Conflicts,' for example, is on Thursday's agenda. Last year's meeting generated 300 pledges valued at $2.5 billion, ranging from initiatives to increase the number of people tested and treated for HIV to efforts to help women in the Middle East develop business skills. This year, Laura Bush, who will conduct the opening session with Mr. Clinton, is expected to announce an administration pledge to help provide clean drinking water to Africa.

The long-term impact of the CGI is yet to be seen. But ensuring that promises made are promises kept increases its chance of success. 'It's one thing to say, 'I have planted two million seedlings' and another to see how many trees are growing up and whether it's more than have been cut down,' says S. Prakash Sethi, a professor of management at Baruch College in New York, who attended CGI last year but this year will be out of the country.

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