Welcome to the Emerging Markets Symposium

Purpose

The mission of the EMS is to bring together authoritative and influential leaders from governments, the public and private sectors and academe in a secure and tranquil environment to address sectoral issues that are critical to human welfare in emerging market countries; to enhance public understanding of those issues; and to promote changes in public and private sector policies and practises to implement their recommendations.

The EMS was created in 2008 not because the world needed another weekend talking shop or because no other organization was trying to address issues facing emerging markets. It was created because human welfare problems – which, given the scale and trajectory of emerging markets are global problems - were not being systematically addressed in any existing forum.

Although the EMS is dedicated to issues facing a specific set of countries with common attributes its mission is consistent with the objective of Green Templeton College - of which the EMS is part - to promote understanding of ‘the issues of managing human welfare in the modern world’ and its ‘particular commitment to the flow of ideas across traditional disciplinary and professional boundaries’. The central ideas behind the original concept of the EMS have continued to drive its development.

Participation

Participation is by invitation and limited to between 40 and 50 individuals depending on the nature and complexity of the topic. Most participants hold or have held senior positions in government, corporations, multilateral organizations and/or academe and are invited in light of their stature, knowledge and experience and capacity to shape policies and practises in their spheres of influence. A few younger leaders with outstanding credentials are also invited to each symposium.

Symposia

Symposia focus on topics that are ripe enough to be tractable and specific enough to be actionable and take the form of extended conversations under the Chatham House Rule. Conclusions are actively and selectively disseminated and participants advocate their implementation. The inaugural EMS symposium - on Health and Healthcare Issues in Emerging Market Countries - was held at Egrove Park, Oxford, 4-6 December 2009. The second symposium - on Urbanization, Health and Human Security in Emerging Markets - was held at Egrove Park 14-16 January 2011. The third – on Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets – was held at Egrove Park January 13-15, 2012. The fourth – on Gender Inequality in Emerging markets – was held at Egrove Park, January 11-13, 2013. The themes embraced by the EMS are consistent with its mission and with the commitment of the College to human welfare.

Sponsors

Five year sponsorship for the EMS has been generously provided by the C&C Alpha Group. Green Templeton College contributed to start-up costs. Addional Funding has been provided by Ocean Partners Ltd.

Organization

The Patron of the EMS is Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The Steering Committee is chaired by Shaukat Aziz and comprises, Sir George Alleyne, Suman Bery, Peter Bourne, Eliana Cardoso, Tsung-Mei Cheng, Michael Earl, Saul Estrin, Serra Kirdar- Meliti, Sania Nishtar, Robert Picciotto, Ngaire Woods and Shengman Zhang. The Executive Director is Ian Scott. The Executive Group comprises Michael Earl, Ian Scott and Cherian Thomas. The Health and Healthcare Advisor is Ken Fleming. The EMS Administrator and Website Administrator is Ruth Loseby.