The Global Symposium was organized from 9 to 13 December 2005 at World Unity Convention Center of City Montessori School, Lucknow India. There were nearly 200 participants from 58 countries including 76 students from City Montessori School who participated in all the discussion and contributed effectively to the process.

The Global Symposium symbolized the “Power of People” in front of the World Judiciary that gathered at the 6th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World from 9 to 13 December 2006 at the same venue. Thus there were two conferences being held in parallel to each other.

The students of City Montessori School extended a warm welcome to all delegates with traditional flower wreath ceremonies. The opening ceremony saw some glittering performances by the students and one of the major attractions was Students World Parliament, where CMS students, dressed as citizens of various countries spoke for their countries burning issues like extreme poverty, gender inequality, absence of democracy, lack of access to safe drinking water etc.

At the Global Symposium we established four working groups to discuss, debate, and agree on a number of proposals for dealing with our global problems in order to begin to develop a Joint Global Action Plan so that we can save the future of the earth, humanity, and ourselves. These proposals are available in the report of 2005 Global Symposium at www.gpwd.org/symposium

In addition we asked each of the participants to make a personal commitment as to what they would do to contribute to the Global Partnership for World Democracy (www.gpwd.org) and our common future. We also shared and discussed our ideas, projects, and approaches in order to get a better understanding and to begin to develop cooperative activities, projects, and plans.

Among the prominent people present at the occasion were Mahatma Gandhi’s grand daughter Ms Ela Gandhi, President of Gandhi Satyagrah Trust from South Africa.

Each of the Working Groups worked separately, thus there was some variation as to how things were done and in the final Declaration. In addition, Groups 2 and 4 were combined, so there are just 3 topic areas rather than the 4. This is thus a Declaration representing the particular gathering of those people who participated in the 2005 Global Symposium; however we are putting forward a number of specific recommendations for responding to and dealing with our global challenges and needs. Thus, the Declaration will be used as a first effort towards creating a People’s Global Action Plan, which we will present to the world's people and governments in the years to come.

All Working Groups and Workshops started with ice-breakers by Ms Sophia Srivastava and participants enjoyed the cooperative games.

The Global Symposium also launched two initiatives in this process – 1) The Global Partnership for World Democracy (GPWD) – a partnership of worldwide organizations working for a plural, democratic and sustainable new world order and 2) BREAKTHROUGH 2007 — a team of active thinkers at Global Symposium who through joint effort, coordination and networking, endeavor to awaken consciousness for a New World Order.

In just one week of its launch the GPWD and Breakthrough 2007 saw more than 108 organizations joining from 42 countries; and many more are still coming to join hands. We would thus like to invite you to join with us in expanding, enhancing, and adding to the process, framework, and document.
Please read the Draft Joint Declaration and the findings and send us our comments and suggestions to symposium@cmseducation.org

The Global Symposium was covered effectively by media and all newspapers reported the event. It was also covered by prominent news channels and daily happening were broadcast through cable network and also through CMS’s own radio (FM) and TV station.

The evening dinners at various locations in Lucknow city were a special delight. A special orchestra from Mumbai was invited to perform on 12th evening and enjoyed dancing on the tune of the band. The sightseeing of Lucknow city’s historic monuments was conducted on the last day.