Campbell Presents at G8 Presidency Conference

June 22, 2009

Photo Courtesy of the Italian G8 Presidency Conference

Rome, Italy. Former Prime Minister Campbell addressed the G8 and Beyond: the Economics and Politics of a Global Century on June 21-22.  As part of the Italian Presidency of the G8, the Italian Foreign Ministry convened the conference in order to stimulate innovative ideas and approaches for their term.  The conference was organized in cooperation with Brookings Institution, Aspen Italy, Club de Madrid, Link Campus University, Sage, and Centro di Eccellenza Jean Monnet – Fondazione Economia Tor Vergata. 

Former Prime Minister Campbell was asked to participate by speaking on the subject of The Challenges and the Opportunities of the Global Political System. The premise for the session was: If traditional powers seek sustainable solutions on issues from conflict to climate change and nuclear proliferation, they will need to make room for new powers at the negotiating table. If new powers are not integrated as partners in the shaping of a revitalized international security system, the enterprise has little chance for success. The global financial crisis and the G20 Leaders Summits have underscored the point. A more representative UN Security Council, Group of 8, and International Financial Institutions are critical to make these global institutions more effective.

Questions explored at the conference included:

• How can the politics of reform and the complexity inherent in an expanded set of governing bodies be managed?
• Given vastly different priorities across nations and regions, how can common perspectives be forged?
• As global norms are set on issues such as climate change, nuclear security, countering terrorism and peace building, how should global multilateral bodies play complementary roles?
• When complex technical issues require specialized mechanisms of governance, how do we create ties among transnational issues like climate change, nuclear security and terrorism that affect one another?
• How should nongovernmental bodies and the private sector participate in such systems of governance?

The goal of The G8 and Beyond, established at the June 21-22 conference, was to gather a small but diverse group of the world’s leading thinkers, of which Kim Campbell was one, in order to stimulate bold ideas for a global economy and political system that can meet the challenges of governance in the 21st Century. In September there will be a follow up meeting to the conference that will take place at the UN General Assembly meetings in New York City.

Visit the G8 2009 Summit website to learn more about the G8 and see the attachment below to see the final document from the conference made available to the public by the Italian Foreign Ministry.

Attachment	Size
G8 Conference Summary	565.57 KB

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