Summit summary

In 2013 the jamboree of summits moves to new locations. Ireland has taken over the Presidency of the EU and will have to calm the waters after its close neighbour Britain stirred trouble with talk of a repatriating powers; in July the baton will be passed to Lithuania.

African leaders will gather in Addis Ababa for the 20th AU Summit (21-28 January). On the 50th anniversary of the OAU, the theme of the summit is African Renaissance, but minds will no doubt be concentrated on the role of AU troops in Mali to combat Islamic extremists.

European, Latin American and Caribbean heads of state and government will meet in Santiago de Chile to strengthen cooperation in the western hemisphere at the first CELAC-EU Summit (26-27 January).

Cosmopolitan Vienna plays host to the 5th Global Forum for the Alliance of the Civilisations (26-28 February) for discussions on intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

G8 Leaders will meet in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, in June

South Africa will host the fifth BRICS summit with the world’s leading emerging economies in Durban (26-27 March) while Britain has assumed the Presidency of the G8, which will see leaders of the world’s eight largest industrialised economies putting their heads together for the 39th G8 Summit in Lough Erne (17-18 June), Northern Ireland. The agenda will revolve around ‘three Ts’ to oil the global economy – trade, tax and transparency.

With a foot in the BRICS, G8 and G20 camps, for the first time Russia will host the G20 Summit in St Petersburg (5-6 September), with overlapping theme of stimulating economic growth through jobs, transparency and effective regulation.

APEC leaders will meet in Bali (5-7 October) to discuss about how to achieve ‘resilience and growth’ in Pacific region.

Brunei takes over the Chairmanship of ASEAN from Cambodia and heads of state and government will meet for the 23rd ASEAN Summit in Brunei Darussalam (9-10 October), which will also include the first ASEAN-US Summit where US President Barack Obama is expected to attend.

Sri Lanka will host leaders of the 54 Commonwealth States for CHOGM (15-17 November) in Colombo amid calls from MPs and human rights groups to boycott the meeting unless the human rights situation in the country improves.

COP19, the annual gathering for Climate Change talks, takes place in Warsaw as the deadline for a deal to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2015 inches closer.
Ukraine takes over the chairmanship as the OSCE celebrates a milestone with the 20th OSCE Ministerial Council in Kiev (5-6 December), where the focus will be on resolving the world’s ‘frozen conflicts’ – from Transdniestria, to Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.