Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Rt Hon Baroness Patricia Scotland, paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, this afternoon, at the New Treasury Building, in Port-Louis.
In a statement, the Secretary-General indicated that discussions with the Prime Minister focused on the communiqué issued following the holding of the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and many issues of pivotal importance to small States.
Baroness Scotland highlighted that issues that are of primary importance to this region but also to Mauritius were raised during the meeting with Prime Minister Jugnauth as Mauritius houses the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub and gave support to the Commonwealth right from the beginning in 2016.
This is one of the flagship projects for the Commonwealth because we know how particularly small States are desperately in need of financial support for climate change, she pointed out.
Climate change, underscored the Secretary-General, poses an existential threat to all of us but particularly the small and vulnerable countries such as Mauritius.
Sea levels are rising, land is being eaten up and the opportunity to be subject to some of these terrible climatic incidences is rising higher and higher, she stated.
Moreover, Baroness Scotland recalled that countries have been met with a number of exogeneous shocks such as the impact of COVID and its resulting effect on economies.
Discussions therefore she shared also focused on the following: importance of food security; prices of rice and flour; scarcity of cooking oil; negative impact on small States caused by external factors happening internationally; support provided by Government to help the vulnerable; Russia and Ukraine conflict; and how the Commonwealth family can try and make a difference by standing by each other and supporting each other.
The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC is the sixth Commonwealth Secretary-General and the first woman to hold the post. She was born in Dominica and was their candidate for the post at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
She is the second Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post. The Commonwealth Commonwealth countries are diverse: they are among the world’s biggest, smallest, richest and poorest countries. Together they work to pursue common goals and values.
Fifty-six independent countries make up the Commonwealth in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, while 32 of the world’s 42 small states are Commonwealth members, each with a population of 1.5 million or less. A total of 2.5 billion citizens live in Commonwealth countries, with more than 60 per cent aged 29 or under.
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