The gloomy mood that prevailed at the mid-point of CIGI’s three-day conference on the global financial crisis was somewhat mitigated in the final session on Day 3, broken by – incredible as this may seem – a cheerful sing-a-long.

Here at CIGI, we’re used to rolling out the red carpet. As part of our work to develop innovative global policy networks, this think tank often receives high-level visitors from the worlds of international governance, banking and diplomacy. But it’s not every day we entertain royalty. So we were delighted to receive members of the Serbian royal family at the CIGI Campus, during their private visit this month to Canada.

Sometimes it’s called the dog days of summer, but not at the CIGI Publications department, where many new CIGI research papers have been rolling off the press – or parading on to the website – with astonishing alacrity.

It was clear at the outset that this was going to be a more exotic G20 experience for 1,000-plus international journalists than at other recent summits.

In the Hollywood film business, distributors put their bets on summer blockbusters. We don’t usually work that way in the think-tank business: research reports emerge when they happen to be good and ready. That’s after a long period of deep research, an intensive episode of writing to produce a first draft, a round of thorough and scholarly peer review, more writing, a cycle of careful editing and design – and then finally, the release. And yet, as it just so happens, CIGI is releasing a summer blockbuster, today.

Events surrounding the G20 Summit in Toronto and its aftermath (police reviews, trials, etc.) have tended to dominate Canadian mass media. One only wishes (naively, of course) that as much interest or publicity existed for the ongoing G20 process, which arguably will have a much larger impact for people all around the world — including those in Canada and Toronto

Recently, articles in three Toronto-based daily newspapers reported on the creation of the new Centre for International Law in the Global Economy. The centre, based mainly at the CIGI Campus in Waterloo, is a new partnership between CIGI and York University, offering 10 research chairs and 20 graduate scholarships in international law. The news stories were, from my point of view, a mixed bag of helpful information and a platform for nefarious agendas. To elaborate, allow me to first explain about the new centre.

The circus is coming to town! That’s the way it feels to me on days like today – the eve of a major conference at CIGI. Admittedly, this show has no actual trapeze artists, elephants or dancing horses. It’s a deep examination of the most urgent challenge to the global economy, the restructuring of debt in countries such as Greece, and whether we have the right processes and institutions to achieve the best outcomes. Lining up dozens of world-leading experts and observers of sovereign debt – economists, bankers, scholars and financial regulators – and getting them all to Waterloo for three days in winter can be a high-wire act. So far, no slips.