Commonwealth Flag being raised in Kigali in March 2020. File Photo
The Commonwealth and the Government of Rwanda have announced the week beginning June 21, 2020 as the new date when the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2021) will be hosted in Kigali, Rwanda.
The meeting which was supposed to take place in Rwanda in June this year was postponed due to the New Coronavirus outbreak. A statement from the Commonwealth Secretariat released on Wednesday confirmed that the gathering will take place in Rwanda next year.
“The President of Rwanda HE Paul Kagame and Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland have today announced the new date for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which was to have been held in Kigali in June 2020 but was postponed because of the impact of COVID-19,”
“The new date agreed with member countries will be the week of 21 June 2021,” the statement said.
CHOGM is customarily held every two years and is the Commonwealth’s highest consultative and policy-making gathering. Commonwealth leaders selected Rwanda as host for their next summit when they met in London in 2018.
Upon announcing the new date, President Kagame said that CHOGM will be an exceptional occasion for members to discuss pertinent issues facing the Commonwealth and come up with solutions, pointing out that Rwanda looks forward to the event.
“CHOGM Rwanda 2021 will be an exceptional occasion to deliberate together on the enormous technological, ecological, and economic challenges and opportunities facing the Commonwealth, particularly our young people, and which are all the more pressing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Rwanda looks forward to welcoming all delegates and participants to Kigali next year for a safe and productive meeting,” President Kagame said in the official statement.
On her part, Scotland said that the meeting in Rwanda will be an opportunity to focus on post-COVID-19 recovery for members whose economies have been badly hit by the pandemic.
“At this historic CHOGM, the first to be held in Africa this millennium, we look forward to Commonwealth leaders coming together to take practical action on the critical issues we all face,”
“Our meetings in Rwanda will give us a real opportunity to focus on our post COVID recovery, but we also know that the pandemic has not reduced the urgency with which global challenges such as climate change, the global economy, trade and sustainable development need to be dealt with decisively through multilateral cooperation and mutual support,” Scotland said.
The leaders’ summit, which is preceded by meetings for representatives from Commonwealth networks for youth, women, civil society and business, will be held in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Preparations for the meeting have been underway.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent and equal countries. Representing a third of the world it is home to 2.4 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. 32 of our members are small states, including many island nations.
