Bill Clinton has announced that the US Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will participate in the eighth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).

The Democratand Republican candidates will join world leaders in government, business, philanthropy, and civil society who gather each year to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. President Obama and Governor Romney will address separate sessions during the final day of the annual meeting, to be held 23rd – 25th September, in New York City.

Clinton said “I’m grateful that President Obama and Governor Romney are taking time to join leaders from all parts of society who choose to address our greatest global challenges through the Clinton Global Initiative.

“CGI is built on the spirit of non-partisan, cross-sector collaborations that drive action and I’m proud that, since we began in 2005, CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments that are already improving the lives of 400 million people all over the world.”

In addition to President Obama and Governor Romney, President Clinton announced new participants including Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Felipe Calderón, president of Mexico, and Denzil L. Douglas, prime minister of the Federation of Saint Kitts & Nevis among many others.

For the first time, the CGI Annual Meeting is built around the single theme, “Designing for Impact,” which will examine how the Commitments to Action that CGI members make can be structured to achieve the most positive, measurable results. The three-day meeting will focus on designing for individual lives, our environments and the systems we rely on including food, an inclusive economy, and good governance.

Earlier this year, CGI introduced a comprehensive program of year-round opportunities for CGI members organized around eight tracks which will be threaded throughout the programming at the Annual Meeting including Girls & Women, Education & Workforce Development, Energy & Ecosystems, Global Health, Market-based Approaches, Response & Resilience, Technology and the Built Environment.

President Clinton will also honor remarkable individuals for their leadership in philanthropy, government, civil society, and the corporate sector at the sixth annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards in a special ceremony with live musical performances and celebrity presenters on 24th September.

The full agenda for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative can be found at clintonglobalinitiative.org/2012. Follow CGI Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook.