Lowy Lecture Series: Paul Martin PC CC, Former Canadian Prime Minister
On 29 October 2013, the Lowy Institute for International Policy will host a public panel discussion on issues associated with Australia’s chairing the G20 in 2014. Australia will assume the chair of the G20 for 12 months on 1 December 2013 and the G20 summit will be held in Brisbane on 15-16 November 2014. The summit will be the largest international economic meeting ever held in Australia. The panel will discuss the importance of the G20, the challenges facing Australia during its term as G20 chair and what should be the priorities for the Brisbane summit.
The panel will include: The Right Honourable Paul Martin, prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006 and minister of finance from 1993 to 2002. He has been referred to as the ‘father of the G20’; Dr Heather Smith, Deputy Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Australia and Australia’s new G20 Sherpa; Lourdes Aranda, former undersecretary of foreign affairs, Mexico and Mexico’s G20 sherpa when Mexico chaired the G20 in 2012; and Rohinton Medhora, President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada. The discussion will be moderated by Mike Callaghan, Director of the G20 Studies Centre at the Lowy Institute.
The Right Honourable Paul Martin was the twenty-first prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006 and the minister of finance from 1993 to 2002. Since leaving office, Mr Martin co-chaired a high-level panel responsible for submitting a report on a new strategic vision for the African Development Bank, following upon an earlier United Nations panel report on private sector investment in the Third World of which he co-chaired. He was also a member of the Western Hemisphere Advisory Panel to the IMF. Currently, Mr Martin chairs the two hundred million dollar British-Norwegian poverty alleviation and sustainable development fund for the ten-nation Congo Basin Rainforest. He also sits on the advisory council of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, an initiative that examines the critical issues facing the continent which is sponsored by the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank. In December 2012 he was invited and serves as one of the Commissioners on the Global Ocean Commission which focuses on governance of the high seas. Mr Martin also participates internationally in activities involving the G20 and global economic governance arising out of his experience in these areas when in government.
