© UNICEF/2009/A. Muchnik

Monday saw the J8 in their first high profile diplomatic meeting at Government buildings in the heart of Rome. Under tight security they made their way through the streets of Rome to offices near the world famous Trevi Fountain.

Surrounded by national and international cameras, the J8 representatives were formally welcomed to Italy by the Undersecretary of the Council of Ministers, Gianni Letta – the equivalent of the deputy Prime Minister.

The J8 was represented by the Italian team at the top table and they began the meeting by thanking the Italian Government and people for welcoming all of the J8 representatives to Italy. The Undersecretary then gave warm words of encouragement to all the young people present and said that the Italian Government were listening to them.

The Minister of Youth, Giorgia Meloni also praised the young people for the efforts they had made in being chosen by their countries and urged them to continue their efforts to get young people’s voices heard.

Both the Undersecretary and the Minister also reminded everyone about the reason why the G8 is being held in L’Aquila and asked them to remember all of those who are still without permanent homes at the site of the meeting of the world’s most powerful leaders.

Although  the speeches were warmly appreciated, the loudest applause of the meeting came in response to  words of thanks to the Italian Fire Brigade who have housed, transported and looked after all of the young people.

The meeting at times resembled a sitting of the UN as the non-Italian speaking J8 delegates all listened in to translations on headphones and watched the events on desk-top televisions. However, this formal international exchange was soon over and it was back to the J8 venue to carry on working.