Foreign Minister engages Pacific leaders in Tonga
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Botchwey, has concluded three days of meetings in Tonga with leaders of the Pacific Islands.
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Ms Botchwey, who is a candidate for the position of Commonwealth Secretary General, also addressed a plenary session of the region’s leaders.
She shared her vision for “a new Commonwealth that works for its citizens, highlighting climate change, education and skills for young people, trade and investment and making democracy deliver socio-economic dividends.
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The meetings took place alongside the 53rd Pacific Islands Leaders Forum during which a 6.9 earthquake shook the island in several waves, at the very moment UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez was addressing students on natural disasters.
The desperate need for the Commonwealth to urgently address Climate change-related issues and their impact on especially Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Small States and coastal countries was a key agenda item in Ms Botchwey’s bilateral engagements with counterparts and Prime Ministers.
“I’ll continue to be an advocate of SIDS, and Small and Coastal States, and indeed all vulnerable members of our Commonwealth,” She stated.
Meetings
Ms Botchwey was accompanied to Tonga by Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former UN under-Secretary-General, and founder Secretary-General of the African Caribbean Pacific Organisation (ACP).
She had meetings with the crown Prince of Tonga, His Royal Highness Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala and the country’s Prime Minister, Siaosi 'Ofakivahafolau Sovaleni.
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She held talks with Prime Minister Siame Naomi Mata’afa of Samoa, host of the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where a new Secretary-General would be chosen in October to replace the current head, Baroness Patricia Scotland.
President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to attend the meeting.
Others
Ms Botchwey also met with the Prime Ministers Sitiveni Rabuka of Fiji; James Marape of Papua New Guinea; Feleti Teo of Tuvalu; Charlot Salwai of Vanuatu and Jeremiah Manele of Solomon Islands.
Others were New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and the Foreign Minister of Nauru, Lionel Angimea.
