Rideau institute President Peggy  Mason is currently in Doha, Qatar attending the Doha Forum 2019, a global platform for dialogue, bringing together leaders in policy to build “action driven networks”.  The background document for this Forum is a report entitled “Reimagining Governance in a Multipolar World” and was produced in partnership with the Stimson Centre. 

The UN is given centre stage in the Doha Forum as the first words of the report indicate:

Adopted on 14 June 2019, UN General Assembly Resolution 73/299 initiates preparations for a political declaration under the banner “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism” for the United Nations 75th Anniversary Leaders Summit, planned for 21 September 2020 in New York.

Under the related theme of “Reimagining Governance in a Multipolar World”, the nineteenth edition of the Doha Forum, planned for 14-15 December 2019, aims to contribute to this significant conversation and policy dialogue on the future of global governance. [emphasis added]

Partners in this endeavour include the European Council on Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group, Women Forward International among many others.

Click here for the preliminary Agenda and here for more detail on the individual sessions.

Last year’s forum was opened by the then President of the UN General Assembly and the closing remarks were delivered by the UN Secretary-General himself.  I look forward to this year’s deliberations on how the United Nations might better support member states in addressing the myriad challenges confronting them.  I also look forward to giving a full report on the content and outcome of the discussions on my return from Doha. – Peggy Mason

Please note that a full report on the Doha Forum 2019 will appear in a special Ceasefire.ca blog to be posted at 6 pm on Thursday 19 December, 2019. (Newsletter subscribers will be notified by email with the link to the blog.)

Photo credit: Doha Forum