Speaker(s): María Antonieta Alva, Gordon Brown, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Zhu Min, Professor Vali Nasr | Join us, alongside our media partner The New York Times and our content partner Kite Insights, for this virtual event and the opportunity to be part of Maryam Forum from its outset! The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged humanity like no other shock in recent memory. Every country and every individual in our deeply interconnected world has felt the impacts, with its twin health and economic crises creating widespread social disruption and unprecedented uncertainty. Even before COVID-19, it was clear many of the challenges we face today demand system change that cannot be achieved by self-interested rulers. It is urgent that we overcome this leadership gap. Since March 2020, the School of Public Policy and its Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science have been examining the pandemic and its policy implications via a dedicated webinar series. This event will draw key lessons for leadership on global challenges, from multiple disciplinary perspectives and across emerging and advanced economies. Draft programme (all timings are BST) 1-2.30pm - Opening Plenary Defeating COVID-19 – What Needs to be Done Now? During this Opening Plenary session, moderated by Professor Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE, leading policy makers will discuss the massive challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has created across the globe and the outlook for recovery. While the G20 global leadership has taken measures to mitigate the heath and economic crisis, much remains to be done. This session will explore the next steps to be taken NOW at the global and national level to deal with the fallout from the pandemic and accelerate a sustained recovery. Panel includes: Maria Antonieta Alva (@ToniAlvaL) is the Minister of Economy and Finance of Peru since October 2019. She has been working in Peru’s public administration for 10 years. In 2017, she was appointed General Director of Public Budget at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where she conducted Peru’s public budget, and the formulation of the Public Budget Acts of 2018 and 2019. Gordon Brown (@OfficeGSBrown) is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is Chair of the Global Strategic Infrastructure Initiative of the World Economic Forum and also serves as Distinguished Global Leader in Residence of New York University. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010. Jeremy Farrar (@JeremyFarrar) is the Director of the Wellcome Trust. Before joining Wellcome in October 2013, Jeremy Farrar was Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Viet Nam for 18 years. Andrés Velasco (@AndresVelasco) is the Dean of the LSE School of Public Policy. He was the Minister of Finance in Chile between 2006 and 2010 and has held professorial roles at the Harvard Kennedy School and Columbia University´s School of International and Public Affairs. He was president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) from 2005 to 2007. Minouche Shafik is the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. An economist by training, she became the youngest vice-president in the history of the World Bank at the age of 36. Minouche returned to the UK in 2004 and rose to become the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development where she was responsible for the UK’s development assistance efforts around the world. Zhu Min is currently the Chair of the National Institute of Financial Research at the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University. He was formerly a Deputy Managing Director at the IMF from July 2011 to July 2016. Before that, he was a Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China.