Over the past decades, Asia has realized significant achievements in tackling issues of poverty. It has produced some of the most rapidly growing economies of the world, now accounting for a third of global economic output. The experience of development across Asia, while creating opportunities for some, has also spawned greater problems for many others. Home to 60% of the world's population, six out of ten Asian households today still live on an average of $2 a day. Age-old inequities continue to exist, fueling social conflicts that are destroying the social fiber of Asia and its people. Increasingly, the environment in many Asian societies is being damaged at an alarming rate, as the region pursues its drive towards economic growth.

But this is not the whole story of Asia. Over the past 50 years, the region has also produced many inspiring and successful Asian leaders, among them over 250 men and women who have been honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's most prestigious prize and widely regarded as the region's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Recognized precisely because of their selfless leadership in changing their societies towards equitable and sustainable development, these laureates need to engage other like-spirited leaders in dialogue on the way forward for Asia.

Bringing together the collective, on-the-ground experiences of Magsaysay laureates, leaders of business, civil society, media, academe, multilateral institutions, and international development assistance organizations will expectedly yield powerful insights on the conference themes of poverty and inequality, environmental degradation, and social conflict, and trigger partnerships for greater impact.

This unique Conference is expected to generate results at three levels. Individual participants will benefit from insights gained in the dialogues with Magsaysay laureates and representatives from other sectors. On another level, conference discussions and networking sessions will identify opportunities to explore concrete partnership activities beyond the Conference. Finally, a target major output of the Conference is a consensus statement on priority action points which Asian public leaders should implement with respect to addressing the three conference themes.

The Magsaysay laureates will be joined by senior business leaders, and representatives of international development assistance organizations, multilateral institutions, development NGOs, research and academic institutions, government, and media. Corporate entities and private organizations with long-standing commitments to, and involvement in, social programs in the region and in their host communities will play a major role in this conference.

Because of its focus on dialogue, practical solutions and forward partnerships, the two-day Conference will be structured to maximize interaction and networking.

Except for plenary sessions at the start and the end of the conference, most of the time will be spent in working groups around each conference theme, organized networking periods, and informal dialogues on the work of Magsaysay laureates.