Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia and Global Citizen announce the fourth annual Global Town Hall 2023

Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and Global Citizen, the world’s leading advocacy organisation, working in partnership with a worldwide consortium of civil society organisations, think tanks, and universities, today announced its fourth annual virtual Global Town Hall, taking place on Saturday, 2 September (GMT+7). The virtual Global Town Hall will convene government leaders, private sector executives, grassroots advocates, and philanthropic experts to discuss our planet's most pressing challenges.

Under the theme “This Is Our World Too: A North-South-East-West Dialogue of Civil Societies,” the Global Town Hall will convene sectors for high-caliber discussions and debates on the state of the world involving leading minds worldwide. The virtual summit aims to engage global citizens with different perspectives and ideas on addressing global challenges, facilitating a genuine and high-quality East-West and North-South dialogue at the grassroots level.

The virtual 15-hour marathon discussions will feature speakers including Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations;Ban Ki-moon, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations; Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; Gilbert Houngbo, Director General of the International Labor Organization; José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste; Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Wang-Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister of China; Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia; Battsetseg Banmunkh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia; Sofia Carson, Singer, Actor and Activist; Sabrina Dhowre Elba, Model, Actor and Activist, with more to be confirmed.

Both FPCI and Global Citizen aim to elevate communities and civil societies worldwide whose voices must be considered in global discussions, especially by those informing national and multilateral policies that affect their lives. Whether focused on enabling reforestation initiatives to uplift those living in remote areas, or ensuring a fair transition for resource-dependent regions as they navigate away from fossil fuels, this Town Hall serves as a crucial platform for fostering these discussions.

Taking place ahead of the G20 summit in India and the Global Citizen Festival in New York City, this series of discussions will feature issues including empowering small-scale farmers, defending human rights defenders, promoting youth political participation, empowering girls, supporting indigenous communities and protectors of our forests, while galvanizing much-needed climate action, and much more.

The Global Town Hall has gathered over 12,000 people from more than 140 countries since its inception.

“We are living in volatile times. As the world becomes increasingly divided and distrustful, we need more – not less – dialogue and civil societies must be part of this conversation. Civil societies want their voices to be heard and have a treasure of ideas and goodwill to offer policy-makers. The Global Town Hall aims to bring east-west-north-south communities together to promote better understanding, deeper trust, and mutual respect, without which no global problems can be resolved,” FPCI founder and chairman Dr. Dino Patti Djalal stated.

“The Global Town Hall offers a significant platform, not just for amplifying the voices of youth and civil society organisations, but also for ensuring their ideas are heard by those in power,” said Michael Sheldrick, Global Citizen co-founder and chief policy, impact, and government affairs officer, “As we approach the 2030 deadline to eliminate hunger and achieve SDG2, we are witnessing the loss of nearly a decade of progress. Against a backdrop of ongoing crises, additional stressors, including Russia's catastrophic decision to cause the Black Sea Grain Initiative to fail or the UK's draconian cuts to its Overseas Development Aid, are exacerbating global food prices and directly driving hunger-related mortality and morbidity. While there is agreement that 'something' must be done to strengthen global food systems, there remain significant disagreements about what tools are to be leveraged and what such a food system should look like. These urgent issues cannot wait, and we urge governments across the world to act now.”

Registration for Global Town Hall 2023 is now open at www.gth2023.com.