Summary: On 29 October 2013, the Lowy Institute for International Policy hosted a public panel discussion on issues associated with Australia’s chairing of the G20 in 2014. Australia will assume the chair of the G20 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 discussed the challenges facing Australia during its term as G20 chair and priorities for the Brisbane summit. The panel included: 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, 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.
