Moscow: Religious, NGO conferences starts before G-8 summit

Moscow: Religious, NGO conferences starts before G-8 summit

The NGO conference, known as the Civil G-8, brought together 700 delegates from Russian and international organizations to draw up priorities for the summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to meet with the forum participants on Wednesday, a few hours before the moderators of the conference were to present final recommendations to the G-8 on issues including energy security, development, and human rights.

The religion summit was billed as an unprecedented event, with more than 200 religious leaders meeting to draft a joint declaration to be delivered to G-8 leaders, the AP reports.