Hon. Alan Ganoo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade is currently in Kigali to participate in the ministerial sessions, in preparation of the 26th CHOGM scheduled for 24-25 June 2022.
In the margins, he had meetings with the Commonwealth Secretary General, H.E Baroness Scotland of Asthal, to discuss possible avenues of cooperation on issues of relevance to Mauritius. H.E Baroness Scotland of Asthal is also a candidate for re-election to the post of Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
He also a meeting with his Seychelles’ counterpart, Hon Sylvestre Radegone, during which they discussed the strengthening and widening of bilateral partnerships and Indian Ocean-related issues including blue economy, regional integration, and maritime security.
The Hon. Minister intervened during the Commonwealth Small States High Level Meeting on the need for mobilising global action to address the vulnerabilities of the 32 small states.
Minister Ganoo joined his colleagues in calling for strong global advocacy and action to strengthen the resilience of small states against external shocks.
Ministers highlighted the need to forge partnerships to mobilise global efforts on the issues affecting small states, such as the persistent environmental, health and economic shocks heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amongst others, Ministers also discussed the UN-Commonwealth Advocacy Strategy on Small States, a new initiative between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations. The initiative calls for Commonwealth countries to act as Advocacy Champions whose role would be to mobilise international attention on the advocacy strategy.
Minister Ganoo registered the strong interest of Mauritius to be one of the Advocacy Champions. The meeting commended Mauritius for its longstanding commitment to the cause of SIDS.
The meeting also had an in-depth discussion on the development of the Commonwealth Universal Vulnerability Index (UVI). There was unanimous agreement on the inadequacy of the per capita income criteria as a means for accessing concessional funding and the need for additional indicators to measure vulnerabilities.
After the CMMSS, Minister Ganoo is actively participating in the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM) being held today.
In these deliberations, Hon. Alan GANOO will expound on the position of Mauritius and ensure that it is duly reflected in the outcomes of these sessions.
