Every child on our planet has an opinion about the way our world should look like; and every child has the right to decide on a par with adults what is to become of this world.

The “Junior 8” project (J8) employing a set of national contests gives children the opportunity to form a group of their representatives who will for the second time present the views of the youth on the global modern problems to the leaders of the “Group of Eight” (G8).

The first Junior 8 Summit took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in July 2005 while the nearby town of Gleneagles hosted a G8 meeting at the same time.
The fact that so much effort was put into preparing the St Petersburg J8 forum shows how much importance Russia attaches to youth issues. For the first time J8 delegates were selected by TV viewers who voted all across Russia. The scope of the summit is unprecedented as well.
Topics for discussion at the J8 are selected on the basis of priorities set out by the country presiding at the G8. Issues debated at the G8 2005 were reflected in J8 2005 Communiqué.
The “Junior 8” meeting in St. Petersburg (08.07. 2006 – 17.07.2006) will involve 8 students between the ages of 13 and 17 from each G8 country. The majority of the countries organized contests in which school teams participated; the winning schools gained the right to delegate their students to St. Petersburg.

The Russian team consists of representatives of 8 Russian cities – from the westernmost Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, which lies in 9000 km from the former. The children who formed the Russian team had to pass two qualifying rounds and to participate in a TV show on one of the Russia’s largest TV channels.

Within the “Junior 8” meeting young representatives of 8 states will discuss the same issues that the G8 leaders.

• Energy resources and the future of mankind
• The spread of HIV and other socially influential infections and drug addiction among youth
• The education and values of the younger generation
• The spread of extremism and violence among youth

Each of these crucial global problems will be given a one-day discussion. Participants of the J8 will have a chance to consult and share their ideas with leading experts, ministers of the Russian government, famous actors, sportsmen and scientists.

The main event will occur on July, 16. By this time every team will have chosen one representative to be delegated to a meeting with the G8 leaders in the Congress Palace on July 16, 2006.

Participants of J8 – 2006 will be living and working in a modern conference hotel located in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, Pushkin  200 m away from the Ekaterininsky Park where the residence of Russian emperors in the 18th and 19th centuries was located.

Besides discussing crucial global problems, the participants of the meeting will visit pop-star concerts, meet famous people, attend museums. All of this will help to create an indelible impression of a visit to one of the most beautiful cities of the world – St. Petersburg.

All forum events are covered live by MTV Russia, the main information partner of the event. Masha Tsygal is the summit’s official designer.

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