The Commonwealth Secretary-Normal, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, will embark on official visits to Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga from 25 March 2024.
In each nations, she is going to focus on problems with significance to the Commonwealth and the Pacific area with the heads of presidency, cupboard ministers, and different public figures, together with Commonwealth help and cooperation.
The Secretary-Normal will arrive in Samoa on 25 March 2024, the place she is going to meet with Prime Minister Hon Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa to debate the preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Authorities Assembly (CHOGM) scheduled for this October in Apia.
From 30 March to three April 2024, the Secretary-Normal might be in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, for her first official go to.
She’s going to meet with Prime Minister Hon Siaosi Hu’akavameiliku, Deputy Prime Minister Hon Samiu Vaipulu, International Affairs Minister Hon Fekitamoeloa ʻUtoikamanu and different cupboard ministers.
She’s going to notably search their views on the CHOGM agenda as a part of consultations with member nations earlier than the biennial assembly.
While in Tonga, the Secretary-Normal will go to communities affected by the 2022 Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai Volcano eruption and be taught in regards to the affect of the catastrophe on their lives and livelihoods.
A lot-valued members
Forward of her go to, Secretary-Normal Patricia Scotland mentioned:
“Samoa and Tonga are great nations with sturdy cultural hyperlinks, and I’m so pleased to be returning to the Pacific.
“Each nations are central to our Commonwealth household and embody the values and commitments we share, with their governments and other people actively contributing to the partnerships which make the fashionable Commonwealth so sturdy and dynamic.
“The sweetness, heritage, and variety of the Pacific are a blessing to the world. I stay up for working intently with the Commonwealth’s members within the area to confront shared challenges, seize shared alternatives, and help their targets to ship a resilient frequent future for all.”
Samoa would be the first small island state from the Pacific to host the Commonwealth Heads of Authorities Assembly.
Discussions on the assembly will concentrate on international political, financial, and environmental developments in addition to the work undertaken by the Commonwealth for the reason that final summit in Rwanda virtually two years in the past.
The Secretary-Normal expressed her gratitude to the Authorities and other people of Samoa for his or her heat hospitality and thorough preparations for the assembly.
A essential CHOGM
“Our Head of Authorities Assembly in Samoa comes at a seminal second, particularly because the impacts of the local weather disaster change into extra intense, extra frequent, and extra devastating,” she mentioned. “Within the Pacific, individuals see and really feel these impacts, dwelling with them every day, regardless of the area bearing the least accountability for inflicting the issue.”
“And but,” the Secretary-Normal continued passionately, “The Pacific’s united and highly effective advocacy for local weather motion conjures up me, the Commonwealth, and the broader world. Way back to the Nineteen Eighties, the Commonwealth has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Pacific in partnership and solidarity, elevating the alarm on this existential menace of environmental breakdown and calling for decisive international motion.”
“Samoa’s internet hosting of CHOGM – the primary in a Pacific Small Island State – symbolises our dedication to amplifying the voices of probably the most affected,” she added. “The selections leaders will make collectively at this assembly will profoundly affect the well-being of our individuals and the planet.”
Throughout her engagements in each nations, the Secretary-Normal will even replace leaders and ministers about varied Commonwealth programmes designed to assist member nations strengthen democratic establishments, construct resilient economies, and defend the setting.
Significantly on the environmental entrance, she is going to spotlight the Commonwealth’s coordinated response to unlocking funding for local weather motion via the Climate Finance Access Hub, ocean challenges via the Blue Charter, land degradation points via the Living Lands Charter and a simply vitality transition via Sustainable Energy Transition Agenda.
The Secretary-Normal’s schedule contains engagements with younger individuals, girls’s rights teams, and civil society representatives.
