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ROME, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi opened on Thursday a major UN-backed forum on sustainable development in Trieste, a city of extreme northeast Italy, urging scientists, politicians and entrepreneurs to map out an action plan for the Group of Eight.
Launching three days of discussions among 500 experts, Prodi invited UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura to produce "a page or two of priorities" to send to the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany next month, local media reported.
The goal of the G8-UNESCO World Forum, proposed and hosted by Italy, is to "generate high-level discussion of concrete initiatives combining Education, Innovation and Research in the interests of Sustainable Development."
"The phase of development that the world is now experiencing is unlike anything seen before in history. But developing countries must be helped," Prodi said, mentioning Africa in particular.
The idea behind the forum is that the G8 can be the vehicle through which long term attention is focused on key issues such as the environment, energy and research.
The World Forum brought together scientists, government representatives and entrepreneurs from 60 countries, including several in the Developing World.
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