Polish revolutionary leader Lech Walesa welcomed Nobel Peace Prize winners to Warsaw on Sunday for a three-day summit, 30 years after winning the prize himself.

"I hope that together, by using the huge potential of the Nobel Peace Prize, we can discuss the problems of the world and move to some collective action," the former president said.

Walesa led the Solidarity trade union that negotiated a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989. The following year, he became the country's first democratically elected president since World War II.

Frederik de Klerk, the former South African president who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela in recognition of their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, said he hoped the conference would discuss moves to alleviate poverty and put an end to conflict.

"How can we ensure that the world and all the countries of the world embark upon wise and well-balanced economic policies which bring the growth which we need"? he said, adding that he hoped a focus on the African continent would be a feature of the talks.

"Africa is showing wonderful growth rates but somehow or another it's not properly on the agenda of Europe or the US," he said.

The Dalai Lama, Irish peace campaigner Betty Williams and Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi are all expected to attend.

The American actress Sharon Stone will also pick up a Peace Summit Award for her work in the fight against AIDS.