By Khalifa Hemed
Published October 10, 2020
The Commonwealth of Nations has announced a new date the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which was to have been held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in June 2020 but was postponed because of the impact of COVID-19.
The new date agreed with the 54 member countries and announced by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland is the week of June 21, 2021.
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CHOGM, the Commonwealth’s highest consultative and policy-making gathering, is customarily held every two years. Rwanda had been selected during the gathering in London in 2018 as host for the next summit in 2020.
“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,” Kagame says.
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“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,” Baroness Scotland says. “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.”
The leaders’ summit, which is preceded by meetings for representatives from Commonwealth networks for youth, women, civil society and business, will be held in Kigali.