Melbourne has won the rights to host the International Congress of Paediatrics in 2013.

The event will see more than 5,000 paediatricians from around the world arrive in Melbourne and will inject over $30 million into the Victorian economy.
 
Daniel Andrews, Minister for Health for the State Government of Victoria, Australia, announced the win.

He said, ‘In the 100 year history of the International Pediatric Association, this will mark the first time that its world congress is held in Australia. It is particularly gratifying that Melbourne should be selected to host this event at a time when the city will be in a position to showcase both the new Royal Children's Hospital and the new Melbourne Convention Centre to an international audience.'

‘The new Royal Children's Hospital project is the most significant hospital development in Australia and will be one of the most advanced paediatric hospitals in the world.  The Hospital is due for completion in 2011 and will be open in time for the Congress in 2013,' he said.

The Melbourne bid for this Congress was led by Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) and The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Paediatrics Child Health Division).

Chief Executive Officer of MCVB, Sandra Chipchase, was in Athens to present the bid, ‘We were delighted to have secured this event for Melbourne. International organisers were impressed with the quality of the Melbourne submission and confirmed that the new medical and convention facilities in Victoria were key factors in the decision,' she said.

Associate Professor Jill Sewell, AM Deputy Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children's Hospital and another key member of Melbourne's bid committee in Athens said, ‘This is great news for Melbourne, the event will help gain deserved international profile for the clinical excellence of the Royal Children's Hospital and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and affiliated services and programs.'

Jill Sewell is one of 80 members of the Club Melbourne Ambassadors Program, an initiative of the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) and MCVB.

Leigh Harry, chief executive of MECC says the integral involvement of Associate Professor Jill Sewell and the other Club Melbourne Ambassadors is just more evidence of the success of the program.

‘Having the leading science, medical and research fraternity on board is invaluable in securing these types of conventions.  The combination of their hard work and having a convention centre of this calibre is assisting us in securing increasing numbers of important business for the state's economy.'

The Congress is the 17th international convention confirmed to take place in the new Melbourne Convention Centre when it opens in 2009. Combined they bring more than 42,000 delegates with an economic impact to the State of Victoria of more than $285 million.