WORKING MEETINGS SUMMIT2006

Traditionally, official bodies of the Group of Six, Seven, and now Eight have held consultations with their countries' non-governmental organizations ahead of summits. Their declared goal is to find out civil society's opinions on priority problems chosen by the presiding country. During Russia's presidency, these priorities include energy security, education and healthcare. Among other topics important to the international community are the fight against international terrorism, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international trade, and financing for development. This is why over 40 Russian NGOs initiated the Civil G8 2006 forum. In launching the project, Russian organizations and their foreign counterparts sought to preserve the achievements of previous years of interaction with the Group of Six, Seven and then Eight and to bring this interaction to a new level. The main principles of the project are continuity, consistency, transparency and openness; this is why they organized a broad public discussion of issues included on the G8 summit agenda. Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the host of the forthcoming summit, said he was willing to ensure all the necessary conditions for a dialogue between the Russian and international public and the Group of Eight.

What the Civil G8 2006 does:

drafts recommendations reflecting the various positions of NGOs regarding the official agenda of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg;

organizes public and international events, both general and thematic, involving independent experts who help to better define the priorities, positions and approaches of civil institutions, including national and international NGOs, regarding the agenda chosen by the G8 host in 2006;

arranges expert assessments of the G8's official documents that have attracted great public interest;

compiles ideas and recommendations from NGOs for G8 leaders concerning future summit agendas.

The final documents resulting from public events held as part of the Civil G8 2006 will be submitted to the G8 representatives.

An important problem is setting up public mechanisms to monitor how those decisions made by the G8 leaders that attract great public interest or affect the interests of a majority of the world's population are implemented.

Advisory Council

The goal of making the advising process meaningful led to the setting up of the Advisory Council, a process which took into account previous experience as well as Russia's special features. The Council comprises 49 influential representatives of international and national non-governmental organizations from different countries. Technical and information assistance and forum organization is provided by the National Working Group of the Civil G8 2006 (coordinator Ella Pamfilova).

Coverage

The main source of information for all members of the Civil G8 2006 project is its website, http://www.civilg8.ru/. It offers content in Russian and English.

Consultations with NGOs during Russia's presidency of the Group of Eight have been divided into three stages:

Preliminary stage (December 2005, January-March 2006)

The main goal was to select process participants among NGO representatives and independent experts, and to find out their various views and positions on the forthcoming summit's priorities.

During this stage, the Civil G8 2006 held a number of conferences, seminars and roundtables attended by representatives of civil society and leading NGOs. Within the framework of the project, the Roundtable of NGO Experts on Energy Security, Education and Healthcare was held in Moscow on February 16, 2006. It was attended by foreign NGOs and experts from the G8 member states.

The roundtable's documents were used as a foundation for drafting proposals to the G8 leaders at the International NGO Forum "Contribution of Civil Society Institutions to the G8 Summit Agenda" (held in Moscow on March 9-10 with 320 participants, out of which about 100 represented foreign NGOs, more than 100 Russian regional NGOs and the rest Russian national NGOs). During the event, its participants held an unprecedented meeting with all the G8 Sherpas, including the European Commission's representative.

Main stage (April-July 2006)

In the run-up to the summit, public organizations involved in the consulting process are holding a second round of conferences, seminars and roundtables, also related to events within the G8 official negotiation process.

On May 18, Moscow hosted a second meeting of experts and international NGO representatives with G8 Sherpas. The event was attended by civil organizations from Russia, Canada, Britain, Germany, the United States, France, Africa and Latin America. They gave Sherpas the proposals drafted at the NGO Forum in March, emphasizing the need for G8 governments to honor their earlier commitments. All the meeting participants took part in a two-hour detailed discussion.

On May 19, participants in the event, along with the Sherpas, visited Kazan (capital of the Republic of Tatarstan), where they held several meetings presenting the Civil G8 2006 project to regional NGOs. They also exchanged opinions on civil society with their local colleagues.

July 3-4, Moscow. The International Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations "Civil G8 2006", the key event of the project. The Forum seeks to discuss matters of concern to the international community related to the forthcoming G8 summit in St. Petersburg; to clarify the positions proposed by NGOs at the conference on March 9-10; and to draft proposals that can be included on the agendas of future summits.

The final documents adopted at the Forum will be handed over to G8 leaders and distributed among a broad range of NGOs and other interested parties.

The Forum expects over 500 NGO representatives to attend. Apart from the G8 nations, public organizations from many other European, Asian, African and Latin American countries will also send their representatives.

Final stage (August-November 2006)

The main goal of the Civil G8 2006 for this period is to create public mechanisms to monitor how the summits' decisions are implemented, to sum up the results of the consulting process and to draft proposals for the host of the 2007 summit.

In compliance with the declared principle of continuity, on October 26-27, an NGO roundtable on Africa's development problems will be held (it was one of Britain's priorities during its presidency last year).

This stage, and the entire process, will end with a final NGO conference, "Fulfilling the G8 summit agenda", scheduled for November 2006. It might be attended by Russian and German Sherpas. Also, in order to preserve the continuity and consistency of the process, Russian NGOs will "pass the baton" to German representatives.