Events

The Lowy Institute is delighted to invite you to attend the virtual 2021 Lowy Lecture, to be delivered by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Mr Sullivan is one of the sharpest and most influential policymakers in the world and a trusted adviser to Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Join us for a conversation with Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., who was appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018. Lowy Institute Southeast Asia Program Director Ben Bland will speak to Secretary Locsin about a range of issues including the impact of US-China competition on the region, the challenges of managing COVID-19 in a large, globally connected nation, and the trajectory of Australia-Philippines relations. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered one of the most severe global economic shocks since the Great Depression. In the Pacific, as in the rest of the world, economic activity has collapsed as a result of lockdowns to contain the virus. Without a strong domestic and international response the Pacific faces the prospects of a lost decade of economic development.

Australia’s decision to cancel its French submarine contract in favour of partnering with the US and the UK on nuclear-powered boats has provoked local and international controversy. The decision has implications for US, Chinese, European and Southeast Asian diplomacy and defence policies. Join Richard McGregor, the Lowy Institute’s senior fellow for East Asia, in discussion with three experts: Bilahari Kausikan, the former head of the Singapore Foreign Ministry, Yun Sun, of the Stimson Centre in Washington DC, and Nadège Rolland, of the National Bureau of Asia Research in the United States.

Join us for a conversation with Dr Meghan O’Sullivan, the former special assistant to President George W Bush and later Deputy National Security Advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan. She will speak with Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil about how September 11 has shaped America’s foreign policy stance in the two decades since the attacks - and how it will define global affairs into the future.