Advance Notice: London and Paris Roundtables, June 2019

“Encouraging private sector leadership for a new era of ‘co-operative globalisation’”

We are building upon our tradition of convening prestigious roundtable meetings of international figures in major locations, to commit to and take action on some of the most important issues facing the world.

Our next series of global roundtable meetings will be held in London and Paris, on 19 & 21 June, 2019. These roundtable discussions will build upon the cumulative and ongoing efforts agreed at previous Roundtable meetings convened by the Global Foundation across the world in recent years, namely:

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Why London and Paris?

London and Paris are two of the most dynamic world cities. Both are cross-roads of civilisation, where people of influence meet and shape international outcomes.

Come and join a blended cross-section of a small group (maximum of 50) of the most purposeful and influential actors from business, investors, international institutions, academia, faiths, politics and civil society, in a series of carefully designed sessions to take place over half a day each, plus dinner, in both cities.

The global roundtable series of the Global Foundation provides opportunities for and examples of genuine leadership by the private sector, in partnership with others, in significantly improving outcomes in society. Lessons learned, including from failure as well as from success, are vital in generating a sense of shared direction from the time spent together. More than a talking shop, all commitments made are put under the spotlight to ensure that words lead to genuine action.

In this collaborative and highly trusting environment, you will gain personal and professional insights, motivation and connections, to help you and those around you to contribute to the betterment of humanity and to the advancement of the global common good.

What will we discuss in London and Paris?

The agenda is being shaped and updated through ongoing consultations with likely contributors. See attached for the list of names of those consulted in Paris and London between 12 and 23 November 2018, for example, following consultations in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Australia in the previous month.

1. A world under stress – continuing a fresh ‘dialogue between civilisations’ and commitments to action
Many existing, formal international relationships are faltering. International co-operation and coherence, between and across societies, is weakening. Building on agreement reached at our 2018 Rome Roundtable, we will continue to deepen the high-level ‘dialogue between civilisations’, between West and East, in search of common ground. The outcomes of the recent Paris Peace Forum in which the Foundation and many of its allies were actively involved, will be a focus of consideration about how we can act together to improve the underpinnings of global governance and international co-operation.

2. Focus on practical outcomes at global scale – ‘co-operative globalisation’ is the key
Our goal is to further promote ‘co-operative globalisation’, for a world that is transformative, fair, inclusive and prosperous. The working model of ‘co-operative globalisation’ has evolved through our previous global roundtable meetings, with contributions in Rome, Kuala Lumpur, Fiji, Melbourne and elsewhere, and enjoys endorsement at the highest levels, including from Pope Francis.

Under this proven and living framework, we are able to continue to consider and measure progress on achieving practical outcomes, at global scale, on a number of areas of priority focus that are determined and driven by those taking part in our roundtable discussions and thus evolve and change over time.

3. Our areas of focus:
We currently have 11 areas of focus on our rolling agenda, namely:

1. Promoting more effective global governance
2. Measuring progress and accountability
3. Investing to address climate change
4. Achieving global food security
5. Building sustainable communities around mining
6. Empowering women economically
7. Eradicating trafficking and forced labour
8. Building Asia’s green infrastructure
9. Working with China as it goes global and, taking account of the Foundation’s Australian roots:
10. Integrating AustraliaAsia and Oceania
11. Realising Australia’s potential

At the most recent Rome Roundtable, held in June 2018, six of these themes, marked in orange, were the primary focus for reporting and discussions.

Some of these priorities have since blossomed into action, often through unlikely alliances between business and society, often at global scale.

For example, the World Benchmarking Alliance, first floated at our January 2017 Rome Roundtable as a concept to measure the sustainability performance of firms, evolved to enable a pre-launch at our Rome Roundtable meeting in June 2018, and was then launched at the UN in September 2018 with multiple global alliance partners in support, and has since been highlighted by the Paris Peace Forum as one of its top ten projects for further development.

The areas of focus for discussion in London and Paris are under development, through consultations and interaction with those who are likely to participate. To date, it is clear that at least the six areas of focus discussed in Rome and since actioned, will again feature, as will agenda 8, ‘Building Asia’s green infrastructure’, given extensive interest and action from Asia, Europe and Australia in recent months.

Please register your interest now, to join us for the London and Paris Roundtable meetings:

We restrict the number of participants in our global roundtable meetings to 50, to ensure that intimate exchanges are able to take place, involving all as equals. It is a form of inter-personal dialogue, not a conference and the success of these meetings very much depends upon the quality of contributions and the diversity and goodwill of those taking part.

Accordingly, the Roundtables will be conducted as usual along the lines of the Chatham House rule, to enable free and frank exchange. Materials are circulated in advance, for the development of the agenda and a brief public report is issued following the meetings.

The roundtable series of the Global Foundation is necessarily self-funding. Existing Partners and Members of the Global Foundation provide underlying support and financial and in-kind contributions will be sought in the form of sponsorships by firms and philanthropic contributors and some personal contributions by individuals taking part, taking into account their means.

Please register your expression of interest to participate in the London and Paris Roundtables, by sending an email to me here

To also advise that, subject to sufficient expressions of support, the Global Foundation also proposes to convene further global roundtable meetings in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Rome and in Australia.

Steve Howard
Secretary General