By Clint Chan Tack Thursday, March 11 2010

THE Commonwealth has broken a lot of ground since the hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from November 27 to 29, 2009. This was the view expressed by Prime Minister Patrick Manning as he addressed a news conference at Malborough House in London on Tuesday to commemorate Commonwealth Day and Rwanda’s first day as a member of the Commonwealth.

Due to this country’s hosting of the CHOGM from November 27 to 29, 2009, Manning is the current chairman of the Commonwealth. He will hold this post until next year when the next CHOGM is held in Australia. The Prime Minister said last year’s CHOGM was “indeed a great success in all respects.”

Focusing on the Commonwealth Business Forum which took place before the CHOGM, Manning said: “For the first time, I believe we interfaced not just with Commonwealth businessmen and the Commonwealth business community, but we had an engagement with businessmen from Latin America, the Western Hemisphere and to a lesser extent businessmen from the Far East and from Europe, so that for the first time, I believe the business forum was pitched on a global basis with the concomitant consequences of that.” The Prime Minister added that the forum was “sold out” and “we had to begin to dampen the demand at the last minute.”

Manning highlighted the participation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Denmark Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and United Nations Secreraty-General Ban Ki-Moon in discussions which culminated in the signing of the Port-of-Spain Consensus on Climate Change as another noteworthy achievement at the CHOGM.

“In Port-of-Spain, we were able to agree on several things, one of which was the need for a significant amount of funding and financing for countries that were adversely affected by climate change developments, even if they were not responsible for it, and a recognition of the need and the ability to have access to funding in the short term,” Manning said. He added that while the outcome of last December’s UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark was not as successful as many hoped it would, countries “look forward to some agreement not too long from now” when they meet later this year in Mexico for a follow-up summit.

In expressing gratitude for his country’s admission to the Commonwealth, Rwanda President Paul Kagame said: “Rwanda recognises the strength of these partnerships. This is why we greatly value our membership in the Commonwealth like we do with other organisations.” By associating in this way and through sharing common values, our country is able to learn from others and build our own home grown solutions for a brighter future,” he added.

Kagame was optimistic that Rwanda would be able to capitalise on the wide range of education and training programmes which are provided by the Commonwealth. “Secondly, we hope to tap into the trade and investment opportunities that the Commonwealth offers so that Rwanda can expand its economy and effectively participate in the global market place,” he said.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma praised Manning’s chairmanship of the Commonwealth, noting that it had resulted in the creation of a Commonwealth Partnership Portal (CPP).