With more than half the world’s people and over 40% of its economy, Brazil, China, India, Russia and other emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas are widely expected to be economic and geo-political powers in the 21st century and beyond. But their future progress, relationships with the rest of the world and each other and prospects for growth, social cohesion and political stability are, in varying degrees, clouded by eroding competitive advantages, environmental degradation, weaknesses in national, local and corporate governance, poverty, inequality and unresolved issues of human welfare.
The Emerging Markets Symposium was created in 2008 to address problems of human welfare in emerging markets. It emphasizes conversations rather than presentations; facilitates conversations by limiting participation to 50 invitees; makes the most of their expertise by requiring all of them to contribute to the agenda and introduce or chair at least one session; promotes reflection by setting each symposium in the seclusion of Egrove Park, Oxford; encourages candour by enforcing the Chatham House Rule and excluding the press and media from all sessions; and promotes implementation of findings and recommendations through comprehensive strategies of dissemination, communications and policy dialogue.