GENEVA, Jan 25: Top finance ministers from Europe and developing countries are likely to use the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland from Wednesday to assess the impact of massive US deficits on the health of the dollar and prospects for global growth.

Government participation in the gathering of the world's business and political elite in the ski resort of Davos will be marked by a plethora of senior finance, economic and trade officials, according to the organizers.

Little high-level US involvement has been announced, but leading figures from industrialized countries will have an opportunity to seek a consensus on the world economy ahead of next month's G7 meeting in London on February 4 and 5.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, French Economy and Finance Minister Herve Gaymard, German Finance Secretary Caio Koch Weser and Italian Finance Minister Domenico Siniscalco are all expected in Davos.

Outgoing US trade representative Robert Zoellick is due to take part in an informal meeting of World Trade Organization ministers on the sidelines of the Forum on Saturday.

However, no other senior finance officials from Washington have been announced for the five days in Davos. Last year Secretary of State Colin Powell made a high-profile appearance, and other senior US officials attended.

The state of the world economy is a standard feature of the formal and informal exchanges at the Davos gathering and this year all the signs suggest that the state of the dollar and US deficits will be a central talking point.

Gaymard in particular has repeatedly expressed concern about weakness of the US currency since he took office in December, urging the United States to cease what he has termed its neglect. -AFP