History of the Progressive Governance Summit
The Network for Progressive Governance was set up in 1999 by a few leaders who shared a progressive vision for their countries and for the world. The primary rationale for the existence of the network, as set out in the Berlin communiqué, is to provide a platform to exchange views and learn from each other about how to tackle the challenges and opportunities emerging in the 21st century. The network provides a unique opportunity for like-minded leaders from five continents to discuss matters of common concern in an open and frank manner. They are bound together by common values, committed to solidarity and social fairness and share in the belief of the equal worth of all and in mutual responsibility. The understanding reached in the meetings assists the leaders to deal with their own challenges and enables them to intervene more effectively in multilateral fora.
Since 1999, these leaders have been meeting once a year in an informal setting to discuss matters of common interest.
Previous Summits were held in Florence, Berlin, Stockholm and London. A meeting was also hosted by President Clinton in New York during the 2000 sitting of the United Nations General Assembly. 2004 marked the first time that a Progressive Governance summit meeting moved beyond the frontier that was once the Iron Curtain. In the year of its accession to the European Union, Hungary hosted the 6th meeting of progressive heads of state/government from 14-15 October 2004. It was at this meeting that South Africa, at the request of some of the leaders, offered to host the next Summit.
Membership of the network is by invitation only. The membership changes from time to time as government leadership changes. Current members of the network include: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Chile, Ethiopia, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
At the last summit of the network, members agreed to invite India to participate. This year they agreed also to invite the Dominican Republic, Portugal and Uruguay to participate in the summit.
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