Sure.
This annual event, which is hosted in Halifax, began some years ago. It's in its third year. The Department of National Defence partners with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency in hosting some 300 what I would call world-class thinkers, leaders, in many cases members of the military, members of the foreign service, academics, business people, bringing them together in a forum that allows for a free flow and exchange of information that is extremely powerful and useful in the formulation of policy, in sharing ideas, and in exchanging and pressing one another on emerging global issues. This year, as you can imagine, much of the discussion focused on the Arab Spring and what is happening in the region. This directly impacts Canada, where we have soldiers deployed in that region, most notably in Afghanistan.
This was an opportunity also to interact directly with people such as U.S. Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, who was in attendance, and Israel's Defence Minister, Ehud Barak. We had individuals from the private sector who were participating, some with experience in energy security, others with experience in the private sector that directly impacts on Minister Fantino's responsibilities around procurement. So we had a really diverse audience in Halifax. It's a rare opportunity, in my experience, to have as many of our European, Asian, and South Asian counterparts in North America to have these discussions in such an informal but informative environment.
This year's discussion, as I mentioned, had a very lively and dynamic component to it. We had discussions about Iran. We had discussions that impacted on our most recent experience in Libya. Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard was part of a panel on the subject of responsibility to protect and the lessons learned in Libya, and how that would impact on future decision-making around deployments.
So this funding, in my view, is something that gives an exponential return on investment, not to mention the economic impact that it has on a city like Halifax at this time of year. For those reasons and others, I believe that this was a worthwhile investment.
It has also been used to leverage other sponsors. This event will eventually become self-sustaining. NATO was a major sponsor this year. There were other corporate sponsors who will be involved. Again, I believe it was a timely and important investment that we made in partnership with ACOA.