Fiame Raises Samoa's Visibility Ahead Of Commonwealth Leaders Meeting In Samoa 2024
His Majesty King Charles III meets the Honourable Prime Minister during the Commonwealth DayReception hosted at Buckingham Palace.
Photo: Government Of Samoa
The Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting and festivities commemorating the Commonwealth Day on May 13 with the subject "Forging a sustainable and peaceful common future" were both attended by the Prime Minister of Samoa, Hon. Fiame Naomi Mataafa, who was in London this week.
The Speaker of Parliament organized a ceremony to raise the flag, the Royal Commonwealth Society held a service at Westminster Abbey, and His Majesty King Charles III and the Queen Consort hosted a reception to celebrate Commonwealth Day at Buckingham Palace.
The tenth anniversary of the Commonwealth Charter, which was initially signed on March 11, 2013, by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and subsequently renewed by His Majesty King Charles III, was also commemorated by the Commonwealth family.
As the incoming chair of the Commonwealth, Prime Minister Mataafa delivered remarks during the raising of the Flag for Peace to help celebrate this significant turning point in the organization's history.
"As we raise the flag of peace, we raise hope for our commonwealth family, for our youth, for civil society, for small and vulnerable states, and we raise hope for a more resilient, sustainable, and peaceful common future," she said.
The Commonwealth Flag of Peace represents the Commonwealth's shared ideas and values, such as cooperation on economic and social progress.
While in London, the Honorable Mataafa met with His Majesty King Charles III at Buckingham Palace and the Rt Hon. James Cleverly, the UK Foreign Secretary, to talk about subjects of shared interest and ways to improve bilateral ties.
She also had meetings with the Deputy Chairperson of the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council, Lord Swire, who is also the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
The conversations that took place all during the week were crucial to the planning of Samoa's hosting of the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The Prime Minister was voted to lead the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) earlier in the week, and she later presided over its 62nd meeting.
The Commonwealth Chairperson is also a member of CMAG, together
with a rotating group of eight foreign ministers from various regions.
Barbados, Belize, Canada, Ghana, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Rwanda (Chair-in Office for the Commonwealth), and Samoa are the current members of CMAG.
In their discussions, ministers agreed that the core values and principles of the Charter are necessary for establishing and maintaining peace and that the full potential of the Charter cannot be realized in the absence of peace.
The third session of the Marlborough House Dialogues, with the theme "Women's Leadership in the Commonwealth," featured Prime Minister Mataafa as the featured speaker. She discussed her experiences as a young woman
who held the paramount chiefly title Fiame, the first female Cabinet minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, and now the Prime Minister of Samoa.
The Prime Minister also used the opportunity during the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting to brief Ministers on Samoa's preparations so far, and its approach for CHOGM in Samoa, now earmarked for October 2024.
The Samoan delegation also took advantage of the occasion to discuss potential areas of support for hosting CHOGM24 with some of its partners.
The Prime Minister gave a speech at a panel discussion on "Ambitious Net Zero Goals with Credible Action: Helping Small Island States" that the Australian High Commission planned to wrap up the week-long conference in London.