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The President of Chile gave an address at the Lowy Institute on Monday 10 September entitled "The Pacific Alliance and Chile, a view towards the Asia-Pacific through a 21st century perspective”.

Host. Waleed Aly and 'expert guide' Anthony Bubalo interview Tal Becker as a part of the regular 'West of Asia' segment on ABC Radio National Drive.

The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Griggs, will deliver a speech at the Lowy Institute on the Navy’s role in contributing to Australia’s national prosperity in the maritime century. Australia has entered a Maritime Century as well as an Asian Century. In the 21st century, humanity has attained the capacity to use the world’s oceans more than ever before – for transport; for resources; and for the importance of the maritime environment itself. As a result the world’s oceans have become more valuable than ever before; nowhere is this more evident than in Asia. Australia is inextricably linked to this trend and our national prosperity and well-being are utterly dependent on our ability to use the ocean. Vice Admiral Griggs joined the Adelaide Port Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in 1978 as a radio operator and entered the Royal Australian Naval College at HMAS Creswell in 1979. He undertook training in the Aircraft Carrier HMAS Melbourne, and HMA Ships Advance and Yarra before attaining his Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate in the Royal Navy Ship HMS Jersey. He served as Navigating Officer of HMA Ships Cessnock, Torrens, Tobruk, Jervis Bay and Perth; was the commissioning Executive Officer of HMAS Anzac helping to bring that class of ship into service; and commanded HMAS Arunta and the Australian Amphibious Task Group. Vice Admiral Griggs has served in a wide range of postings including as Deputy Fleet Commander, a member of the 2009 Defence White Paper team, as the Deputy Head Strategic Reform and Governance and as Deputy Chief of Joint Operations. He assumed command of the Royal Australian Navy in June 2011.

Stephen Smith was sworn in as Minister for Defence on 14 September 2010. Prior to that Mr Smith was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 28 June 2010 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 3 December 2007. A barrister and solicitor by profession, Mr Smith has been the Federal Member for Perth since March 1993.

China is rising - how should America respond? That could be the crucial question of the twenty-first century, according to strategic expert Hugh White. It is also a crucial question for Australia, affecting our future economy and security. In this essential book, White considers the options for the Asian century.

LOWY LECTURE SERIES: THE US-PAKISTAN RELATIONSHIP AND THE NEW ASIAN SECURITY ARCHITECTURE - PROFESSOR ANATOL LIEVEN On Wednesday, 8 August as part of the Lowy Lecture Series, Professor Anatol Lieven discussed the possible futures of Afghanistan and of US-Pakistan relations following the withdrawal of US and allied ground troops in 2014. The lecture also reflects his recent meetings with former leading members of the Taliban, and addresses the possibility of a peace settlement with the Taliban. Professor Anatol Lieven is chair of international relations in the War Studies Department of King’s College London, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. His latest book, Pakistan: A Hard Country, was published in April 2011 by Penguin in the UK and Public Affairs in the US. An updated version of his study of American political culture, America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, will be published in September 2012 by Oxford University Press. He spent most of his career as a British journalist in South Asia and the former Soviet Union, and is author of several books on the latter region, including Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power? (Yale University Press, 1998) and Ukraine and Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry (USIP, 1999). Anatol Lieven holds a BA in history and a PhD in political science from the University of Cambridge, Great Britain. He has worked as a senior fellow of the Carnegie Endowment in Washington and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: KEEPING IT REGIONAL: THE COALITION'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE FUTURE OF THE BALI PROCESS - SCOTT MORRISON Scott Morrison was first elected as the Federal Member for Cook in November 2007 and is currently the Shadow Minister for Productivity and Population and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Scott first joined the Coalition frontbench in September 2008 and has also held the Shadow Ministerial portfolio of Infrastructure, Housing and Local Government. Scott has been a member of Shadow Cabinet since December 2009. Prior to entering politics Scott worked as a CEO and senior executive in various industry bodies and government agencies, including Managing Director of Tourism Australia, State Director of the Liberal Party and National Policy and Research Manager for the Property Council of Australia. Scott holds an Honours degree in Applied Economic Geography from the University of NSW and lives with his wife Jenny and two daughters in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.

A Perspectives:Asia seminar presented by Mr Rory Medcalf, Director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute, at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University.

LOWY LECTURE SERIES: REFORMING JUSTICE - DR LIVINGSTON ARMYTAGE Over the past fifty years, development agencies have spent billions of dollars grappling with the challenge of improving ‘the rule of law’ through improving economic growth and good governance. But the results have been dismal. The unmet challenge is to address mounting concerns about equity and distribution. In his new book, Dr Livingston Armytage calls for justice to be positioned more centrally in evolving notions of equitable development. Building on new evidence from Asia, he argues that it is time to realign these reforms to promote justice as fairness and equity. Dr Livingston Armytage is a specialist in judicial and legal reform, advising governments, courts and international development agencies on improving justice systems around the world. He has worked in numerous senior roles on substantial reform programmes for major development agencies in many countries from Afghanistan and Azerbaijan to Haiti, Palestine, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea. He is also Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Sydney. His other books include Educating Judges (Kluwer/Brill, 1996) and Searching for Success in Judicial Reform (OUP, 2009).

After four months in his new role, Foreign Minister Bob Carr will deliver a speech on the direction of Australia’s foreign policy and overseas development assistance. He will speak about Australia’s strategic and regional relationships and Australia’s role in multilateral fora. Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr was the longest continuously serving Premier in New South Wales history. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1988 until his election as Premier in March 1995. He was re-elected in 1999 and again in March 2003 securing an historic third four-year term. He retired from politics in 2005 after over 10 years as Premier. During these 10 years the State Government set new records for spending on infrastructure, became the first government in the State’s history to retire debt, hosted the world’s best Olympics in 2000 and achieved the nation’s best school literacy levels. Forbes magazine called Bob Carr a “dragon slayer” for his landmark tort law reforms. As Premier he introduced the world’s first carbon trading scheme and curbed the clearing of native vegetation as anti-greenhouse measures. He was a member of the International Task Force on Climate Change convened by Tony Blair, and was made a life member of the Wilderness Society in 2003. He has also received the World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award for creating 350 new national parks. Bob Carr has received the Fulbright Distinguished Fellow Award Scholarship. He has served as Honorary Scholar of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. He is the author of Thoughtlines (2002), What Australia Means to Me (2003), and My Reading Life (2008). In March 2012 he was designated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard as Australia’s Foreign Minister. He was elected to the Australian Senate to fill a casual Senate vacancy and sworn in to the Senate and Cabinet on March 13, 2012.

The Chemical Weapons Treaty and its implementing organisation, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), is the first global accord for the complete elimination of one type of weapon of mass destruction, chemical weapons. It is a trailblazer for all future accords as the world seeks to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction over time. In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the treaty in 2013, we are delighted to host an address by the Director-General of the OPCW, H.E. Mr Ahmet Üzümcü, who will speak about the OPCW’s enduring mission to remain forever a bulwark against chemical weapons and to ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge.

The Lowy Institute for International Policy hosted the first ever public address by a Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in the organisation’s 60-year history, on Thursday, 19 July in Canberra. The ASIS Director General, Nick Warner, provided a rare insight into an organisation which is by its nature secret and which has a mission to protect and promote Australia's vital interests through the provision of unique intelligence services

Australian defence capability planning: the facts from the Chief The Chief of the ADF's Capability Development Group, Lieutenant General David Hurley AO DSC, spoke to the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy audience on 23rd August 2006. In a wide-ranging presentation, General Hurley offered an insider's unique perspective from his senior position within the ADF on a number of important and topical issues.

Australia in the Asian Century The global power shift toward Asia presents Australia with economic opportunities, but it also raises the specter of increased geo-strategic competition, argues Michael Wesley of the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Wesley also explains his ideas about the emergence of a new kind of bipolarity – between how the "Atlantic" and "Asian" communities understand world politics. Podcast from ISN ETH Zurich

Advancing Innovative Development and Aid Strategies in the Asia-Pacific: Accelerating The Millennium Development Goals