By Robyn Rosen
Organisers of an international conference of Jewish communal organisations being held in London for the first time are hoping it will be a "Jewish G8 with a practical side".
The European Association of Jewish Community Centres (EAJCC) is hosting the fourth Pan-European Conference of Jewish Community Centres in October.
More than 250 lay leaders and professionals will take part in the four-day conference, which will include sessions with London Mayor Boris Johnson, Stephen Zimmerman, chairman of Jewish Care, and Professor Avigdor Shinan from the Department of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University.
A spokesman for the EAJCC said: "We would like to see the beginnings of a framework of European Jews and establish a kind of G8 where they can go back to their communities and create change."
Participants include JCC for London, the London Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Fonds Social Juif Unifié, Jewish Care, the London Jewish Forum and the JDC-International Centre for Community Development at Oxford.
Nick Viner, chief executive of JCC London, said: "The conference will raise the profile of JCCs and help people in London to understand the movement. We hope that next time it's in London, it will take place in our new building."