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But analysts warn that perils remain, and badly needed financial reforms in the United States and elsewhere have yet to be implemented.

Mark Zandi is Chief Economist at Moody's Economy.com.

"You know policymakers have done a lot of good work stabilizing the financial system, but they have not changed anything fundamentally.  And until they do, the risk of another financial panic in our future is still very high," Zandi said.

Policymakers must alsorunescape power leveling decide when to wind down unprecedented levels of government stimulus and financial support.  Those measures were deemed necessary in the face of an economic crisis, but can spark inflation if sustained for too long.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov:

"I think this year, it would be more about how to live after the crisis.  What to do with exit policies and whether all of us carry on with fiscal stimulus or when we exit and on what conditions," Shuvalov said.

The global economic downturn struck advanced industrialized nations particularly hard, providing an opening for rising economic powers like India and China to shine on the world stage, according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

"India is now a rising economic power that handled the recent economic crisis very well.  It has contributed to world economic stability and could become the pole [focus] of global economic growth over time," Zoellick said.

For many nations, the passing of the financial crisis means attention must be refocused on long-term problems that preceded the global recession.  In the United States, massive government debt continues to grow at a time when an aging population is placing ever-greater demands on social welfare programs.

In much of the developing world, such as in Kenya, other challenges must be tackled, according to World Bank Vice President for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili.

"In terms of competitiveness in the new global environment, Kenya will have absolutely no choice but to tackle the most important constraint to its development.  It has been corruption," Ezekwesili said.

Unlike in past economic rebounds, the United States is not in a position to drive global growth, according to the World Bank's Robert Zoellick.

"In every past economic crisis, what you have had is the U.S. consumer and the purchasing start the ball rolling again," Zoellick said. "And that consumption leads to increased business demand and investment on the business side.  Most economists expect that is not going to be the case, this time."

Instead of advanced industrialized nations leading the way, analysts say global economic growth will likely be powered by rapid expansion in countries like China and India, with contributions also coming from lesser-developed nations.

The question remains what sort of compromise they can agree on to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to help the most affected and less developed nations of the world cope with global warming.

For the past two weeks thousands of delegates have been meeting in a conference center on the outskirts of Copenhagen.  Their task was to come up with a global plan to deal with climate change.  

But, agreement has been elusive.  Many of the sessions were taken up with finger pointing and rhetoric of who's to blame for global warming, who suffers most, and who needs to do more.

Addressing the conference, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned that, as he put it, no one has come here with "clean hands."

"The inescapable truth is that we, the developed world, carry the overwhelming historical responsibility for the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Rudd said.

Prime Minister Rudd's message was that the developed world must set things right. But, he also admonished emerging economies to not continue to spew out greenhouse gases.