Halifax International Security Forum

Halifax International Security Forum

BG-11.018 - September 6, 2011

Halifax is hosting the third annual Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) from November 18th to 20th. The forum brings the world’s leading security and defence experts to Halifax to share ideas and solutions to the complex global realities that create instability and conflict.

The only event of its kind in North America, the Halifax International Security Forum fosters discussions covering a wide range of topics, including the evolution of international security, emerging global issues such as the Arab Spring, and making better use of resources to deliver on key security and defence commitments.

The Halifax International Security Forum, now in its third year, has established itself as a prestigious forum and network for thoughtful and engaged decision-makers from the military, government, business and other strategic sectors to work together to meet emerging threats in a rapidly changing world.

In 2009 and 2010, over 300 hundred high-profile participants from more than 40 different countries helped make the Forum a tremendous success. Past attendees included former Secretary of Defense of the United States Robert Gates, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack, United States Senator John McCain, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Belgium Minister of Defense Pieter de Crem, Britain former Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism the Right Honourable the Baroness Neville-Jones,  Denmark Minister of Defence Gitte Lillelund Bech, Germany Federal Ministry of Defence, Secretary of State Christian Schmidt, Netherlands former Minister of Defence Eimert van Middelkoop,  and Turkey Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Murat Mercan. The panel discussions were broadcast live by satellite.

Past discussions at the Forum covered a wide range of topics, including forward defence; protecting the public; state building; NATO beyond Afghanistan; sea, sky, cyber space security; a world without nuclear weapons; and global governance.

The unique format of the Forum encourages frank and open dialogue. Halifax Forum sessions are intentionally designed to foster discussions between the participants and the leading experts and practitioners on international security. The Forum is comprised of open plenary sessions, smaller breakfast and evening night owl sessions, as well as hosted dinners in the city of Halifax.

The HISF is proud to have Foreign Affairs as its media partner, and is made possible through a generous grant by both the Department of National Defence and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

Foreign Affairs Magazine

Since its founding in 1922, Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs. It is published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-profit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs through the free exchange of ideas. The magazine’s first issue led with a statement setting out an editorial vision that has remained constant ever since:

“The articles in Foreign Affairs will deal with questions of international interest today. They will cover a broad range of subjects, not only political but historical and economic, and they will be accompanied, when it is desirable, by maps and diagrams. Technical articles will be left to more special magazines. There will be numerous foreign contributors, but the fact that the interest and profit of the American reader are a first consideration will not be forgotten.”

“In pursuance of its ideals Foreign Affairs will not devote itself to the support of any one cause, however worthy. Like the Council on Foreign Relations from which it has sprung it will tolerate wide differences of opinion. Its articles will not represent any consensus of beliefs. What is demanded of them is that they shall be competent and well informed, representing honest opinions seriously held and convincingly expressed. We do not expect that readers of the review will sympathize with all the sentiments they find there, for some of our writers will flatly disagree with others; but we hold that while keeping clear of mere vagaries Foreign Affairs can do more to guide American public opinion by a broad hospitality to divergent ideas than it can by identifying itself with one school. It does not accept responsibility for the views expressed in any article, signed or unsigned, which appears in its pages. What it does accept is the responsibility for giving them a chance to appear there.”

For more information on ACOA: http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca
Thanks to Lawyers Against War and Agent Herculean Spyglass of Abel Danger.