Over 150 students from top universities around the world are traveling to Warwick, between 9-11 March to inform policy makers, share ideas and perspectives and bridge the gap between research and policy on development issues.  Major social economic and political issues affecting developing countries like conflict, trade, migration, global warming, and health will be at the forefront during the 2^nd Annual U8 Summit talks.

The closed meetings and round table discussions to propose recommendations to policy makers and consolidate research will include U8 delegates from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, LSE, Northwestern, Warwick as well as universities in Nepal, India, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia, Mexico, Egypt, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, France and Germany.  Government officials, policy makers, and representatives from international institutions are expected to attend the Summit.

Commenting on the U8 and the forthcoming summit, James Clarke, U8 Co-President said: “The U8 is groundbreaking and paradigm shifting. Unlike the G8, the U8 actively includes the voice of developing countries and is much better equipped to inform policy makers, as well as global civil society on the impact of policies, practices and programs of their countries.”

The introductory talks and press conference by students, as well Professor Andreas Eshete, UNESCO Chair and President of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, and Professor Paul Collier of Oxford University will launch the Summit on Friday 9 March at 11:00 on campus.

The Speaker Event which is open to the public on the Saturday 10 March in the Warwick Arts Centre entitled "To what extent do developing countries have a say in the policies that affect them?" includes Salil Shetty, UN Millennium Campaign, Kinglsey Moghalu, Global Fund, Jean-Christophe Bas, World Bank, and representatives of the African Union and Ethiopian government.

“The summit offers students the opportunity to build partnerships globally for the end of poverty as well as engagement with the wider public. Indeed, could this be the renaissance of global student activism of the 1970s?” added Clarke.

To prepare for the upcoming summit, students across the globe have been researching, holding debates at their respective universities, gaining international media coverage, meeting with key policy makers and influential leaders, and blogging online on the U8 website: www.u8development.org.uk. All of these views will come together at Warwick during the three-day summit.

The online blogs and student researchers tackle international development issues as chosen from the U8 Consultation Paper 2006. Last year, the U8 asked governments, NGOs, private sector companies and academics in both developed and developing countries as well as international organisations what they thought the most important issues were in development. This set the framework for the research for student delegates giving a representative view of global developmental concerns. 

Concluding the Summit on Sunday 11 March delegates will consolidate research and present issues raised to key policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in an outcomes document, and in separate meetings throughout the year to those consulted.