ROME, 19 June 2009 - Teams of young people aged 14 to 17 are packing their bags and booking their flights to Rome to participate in the young people’s summit (J8) to be held this year in Rome from the 4th - 12th of July, in parallel to the G8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy.

This year, the 32 young people from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, UK and the USA will be joined by teams of four young people each from Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The young people will be able to speak to the press on several occasions throughout their stay in Rome, including after their meeting with the G8 leaders on Thursday 9th July.

The focus of this year’s J8 will be climate change, the financial crisis, and poverty in Africa as they impact on the lives of children and young people. 

Previous J8 summits have been in Gleneagles 2005 (it was called the C8), St. Petersburg 2006, Heilingdam 2007 (Germany), Chitose 2008 (Japan).

To read more about J8 2009 globally, and read the past Declarations, please visit: http://www.j8summit.com/

Note to journalists:

Daily b-roll of the youth participants activities during the J8 summit will be prepared and distributed through http://www.thenewsmarket.com/unicef and through feeding points on the ground.

For additional information and to interview young people, please contact: Kate Donovan, UNICEF Media, Mobile: +1-917 378-2128 or E-mail: kdonovan@unicef.org