This year's EDD, in Stockholm (22-24 October), fall one month after the G-20 Leaders meeting in Pittsburgh, two weeks after the IMF-World Bank meeting in Istanbul and six weeks before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Against this backdrop, the 2009 edition will focus on the global response to the economic downturn and climate change, as well as on the challenges of democracy and development.

Speakers this year include Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister; José-Manuel Barroso, European Commission President; IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and leaders of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank. Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States will also be speaking, along with UNDP administrator Hellen Clark, the Presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Maldives, Burkina Faso and Micronesia and the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The new European Parliament president, Jerzy Buzek, and members of EP committees will also be there. Representatives from NGOs Transparency International, ActionAid International and Oxfam International will be giving the view from civil society.

Hosting a large-scale event attracting people from the four corners of the world creates its share of CO2. It would be irresponsible to address the world's development challenges.