President Yoweri Museveni has traveled to Rwanda to participate in the Common Wealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) taking place in Kigali.
This year’s Summit will mark many firsts – the first CHOGM since the world was forever changed by the pandemic, the first CHOGM to be held in Africa in 15 years, and the first CHOGM to take place in a country with no colonial links to the United Kingdom.
In a tweet on Thursday, Museveni said: “Heading for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda.”
The 2022 CHOGM edition takes place at a time the world is grappling with a host of challenges, including the pandemic and the recovery effort, as well as wars and rising cost of living.
In fact, the Summit is happening after two postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
These are challenges that call for bold global leadership and an inclusive, honest conversation among government leaders, private sector, civil society and citizens, and Commonwealth populations will be hoping their representatives at the gathering will deeply engage and interact around these issues with a sense of purpose.
Given the current global context, this year’s Meeting could not have a more apt theme, with discussions running around, ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming’.
This reflects the acknowledgment by Commonwealth leaders that the bloc, which brings together some 2.5 billion people from 54 countries, has a key role to play in finding solutions to the most pressing world problems, ranging from climate change, youth unemployment and inequality to health crises, unsustainable debt, and extremism and violence.
A closer look at the CHOGM agenda reveals a deliberate effort to make the discussions as inclusive as possible with dedicated forums for specific segments, notably the youth, women, people (civil society) and businesses, each focusing on issues that affect them directly, with a view to drawing up a list of actionable recommendations. Indeed, the outcomes of these forums are expected to help inform the deliberations of the Heads of State and Government later in the week.
In Kigali, leaders have an opportunity to not only reaffirm shared Commonwealth values but to listen to and interact with the people and incorporate their concerns and recommendations into their national strategies as well as Commonwealth programmes – and to build on that to contribute toward a better world for all.