As members of the United Nations converged in San Francisco to celebrate the organization’s 60th anniversary, or UN60, on June 25 and 26, Stanford also had its fair share of distinguished world leaders roaming around campus.

Among other high-profile individuals, former secretaries of state Robert McNamara and William Perry, as well as former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, gathered at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center from June 21 to June 25 for the 23rd meeting of the InterAction Council, or IAC, and the World Leaders Summit, or WLS, said Sally Bachman, director of communications for the Saga Foundation — a Menlo Park-based organization that helped host the WLS.

The Saga Foundation, founded in the 1980s, is affiliated with the Stanford Institute for International Studies, or SIIS, Bachman said.

While the two meetings were separate events, some former heads of state and other political figures participated in both, Bachman told The Daily.

While both events united political leaders and other experts to address global problems, the IAC meeting was open only to former heads of state that are members of the organization and a small number of invited guests. Participants in the WLS included various heads of state as well as members of 12 independent organizations, Bachman explained. Although the WLS took place for the first time this year, it involved more people than the IAC meeting.

All participants in the IAC meeting and the WLS were invited to the UN60 celebration, also a separate event. Not all attended, Bachman added.

The Hoover Institution was the on-campus sponsor for the IAC meeting, according to Bachman. Founded in Japan in 1983, the IAC seeks to bring together former heads of state from democratic countries to address peace and security; world economic revitalization; and universal ethical standards, according to the council’s Web site.

At a dinner held on June 21 for the IAC, Stanford Provost John Etchemendy spoke about the ways in which Stanford — and, in particular, the SIIS — supports and encourages the IAC’s efforts.

He said that the issues facing the world today represent an intermingling of issues and thus defy traditional problem-solving approaches. A new, interdisciplinary approach to education is needed, and SIIS is attempting to cultivate diverse, international viewpoints and solutions, he added.

Etchemendy said that University founders Jane and Leland Stanford were widely traveled and worldly for their time. Dealing with international issues is what they would have wanted, he said.

With the recent launch of Stanford’s International Initiative — a $100 million campaign to create interdisciplinary professorships and endow the directorship of the SIIS, according to the Stanford News Service — the University has indicated its dedication to resolving global problems creatively.

While the specific agenda of the 2005 IAC was not made available to the public, Bachman told The Daily that the WLS mainly addressed issues of growing economic inequality and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

“The summit’s goal is to develop actionable solutions,” said a Saga Foundation press release.

Stanford President John Hennessy, who delivered a speech to welcome the summit’s attendees, told The Daily in an e-mail that “As a University, we were delighted to host the event because it provided an opportunity for this distinguished group to visit our campus as well as interact with our scholars.

“Several of the major topics, such as controlling weapons of mass destruction, are topics where Stanford is a world leader in research,” he added. “We hope, through the International Initiative, to be able to serve as a forum for such discussions in the future.”