section_path: Cabinet career (1997–2011)/Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011)
section_name: Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011)
paragraph_text: Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011)
  
  On the resignation of Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach in May 2008, Martin supported Brian Cowen's bid for the Fianna Fáil leadership.
  
  In a cabinet reshuffle on 13 May 2008, following the election of Brian Cowen as Taoiseach, Martin became Minister for Foreign Affairs. One of the first issues that he had to deal with was the referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon.
  
  Martin led the government campaign. Despite the overwhelming majority of government and opposition parties supporting a Yes vote, the electorate rejected the government's recommendation. Martin and Cowen failed to convince the Irish public to support the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and this protest expressed in the referendum on 12 June 2008 plunged the government into a major political crisis.
  
  In February 2009, Martin travelled to Latin America for the first time, making stopovers in Mexico and Havana; it was the first time an Irish government Minister had made an official visit to Cuba.
  
  In September 2009, he travelled to Khartoum to discuss the kidnapping of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki with the Sudanese government.
  
  On 7 February 2010, he defended the €4.4 million redevelopment of the Irish embassy in Ottawa, Canada. While in Brussels on 22 February 2010, he questioned Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman over the use of fraudulent Irish passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
  
  On 17 March 2010, he met President of the United States Barack Obama in the White House, alongside Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
  
  On 26 May 2010, he met with senior Chinese leaders in Beijing, to discuss relations between China and Ireland, before travelling onward to Shanghai. While there, he visited the Irish pavilion at Expo 2010 in the city.
  
  On 28 June 2010, he began a five-day trip to Uganda and Ethiopia, where he visited buildings and met ministers and businesspeople.