At the invitation of the Russian presidency, eight teenagers from each of the G8 countries took part in a junior summit, the "J8", in Pushkin, near St. Petersburg, from July 7 to 18. They discussed a number of issues on the G8 summit agenda that are of particular interest to young people in a globalized world.
The German delegation was made up of members of an eighth-grade class at a school in Essen who had won out against stiff competition in a national selection procedure.
Janusch Krasberg, 14, presented views and proposals formulated by the German J8 delegation in their meeting with the G8 leaders.
Chancellor Merkel and the other heads of state and government were unanimous in their praise of the presentations made by the young summiteers. Merkel said she was impressed by the amount of effort the young people had invested in the project and pledged to see to it that an appropriate framework is created for the J8 project under the German G8 presidency in 2007.