PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Crews in this Caribbean capital are cleaning the streets, spiffing up hotels and corralling the homeless into shelters -- out of sight of visiting dignitaries who will arrive this week in advance of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which starts Friday.

It is the hemisphere's largest and most important gathering of democratically elected leaders in years, and President Barack Obama's introduction to the region in a climate of global economic crisis. He will share the stage with 33 of his counterparts.

That makes it a very big deal for the region, but an even bigger deal for the host country.

Trinidad is accustomed to moving massive crowds at its annual carnival, the Caribbean's largest, but it is new to the logical challenge of welcoming 34 world leaders and their entourages, all vying for equal attention.

There will be at least twice as many visitors as hotel rooms to hold them.

In preparation for the spotlight, even the downtown skyline has received a $500 million face lift. Three new government-financed towers, including a 428-bed Hyatt Regency hotel and conference center, now grace a transformed waterfront adorned with newly painted murals of Caribbean life, palm trees and a brick-layered walkway.

OBAMA'S ROLE

Obama will become the first American president to visit the English-speaking Caribbean since Bill Clinton sat down with leaders of the Caribbean Community in Barbados in 1997.

This is the first hemispheric summit to be held in the Caribbean. Miami hosted the first Summit of the Americas in 1994.

''We're very, very summit-focused,'' Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Schoon told The Miami Herald. ``At this stage, we are formulating the meetings, scripting them.''

With the global financial crisis and the country's lush hills as backdrops, the leaders are expected to tackle topics as diverse as the decades-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and how to build a common defense against drug trafficking to protecting vulnerable habitats.

''It's a chance for true engagement of the entire Western Hemisphere,'' Gopee-Schoon said. ``It's the opportunity to face, as a group, the common challenges that are before us and the common solutions toward them -- especially at a time when the world is faced with various crises in the areas of food security, energy security, economic and financial stability.''

But putting on an event of this magnitude in a country the size of Delaware -- a country that consists of Trinidad and its sister island, Tobago -- is a huge undertaking.

There are only three roads in and out of this tiny capital from Piarco International Airport, limiting the options for transporting hemispheric leaders. The country has only 1,700 hotel beds, and it is expecting between 4,000 and 6,000 visitors.

The American delegation alone is about 1,000 strong, followed by Venezuela's, about 200.

BEDS AFLOAT

One detail that has been taken care of is providing additional sleeping accommodations. Two cruise ships have been chartered and will anchor in the nearby harbor to house delegates and 1,200 journalists.

Another detail still being worked on is security.

In recent weeks, local police and military personnel have beefed up patrols in volatile communities in the hope of stemming the country's escalating rate of murder and other crimes. Scores of security cameras have been installed along the east-west corridor between the airport and the summit's oceanfront venue. Exclusive security zones have been established, with residents required to get passes to access roads leading to their homes and businesses.

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