The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Kigali on 21 June 2022, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Today, they met with the President and First Lady of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame and H.E. Jeanette Kagame, at Urugwiro Village where they discussed existing partnerships and areas of mutual interest.
Ahead of their meeting with the President and First Lady, they visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where they received a tour of the Memorial’s exhibits, including personal effects and photographs of the victims of the Genocide. Read more here.
Also this morning, leaders and senior officials from across the Commonwealth voiced their robust support for a non-binding charter on climate change, biodiversity and land degradation, that would boost coordinated action in these areas among the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. The document, known as the ‘Living Lands Charter’, is slated for discussion and possible adoption later this week at CHOGM.
Today also marked the beginning of high-level ministerial meetings – the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group Meeting and Commonwealth Ministers Meeting on Small States (CMMSS) took place. At the Small States Meeting, ministers discussed how best to strengthen support for the Commonwealth’s 32 Small States.
They stressed 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 and the economic ramifications of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In other news, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s ground-breaking collaboration with Cambridge University has unlocked more than $10 million of private financing for Small Island Developing States. The Cambridge collaboration brings young people together with political leaders and world-leading experts to generate and stress-test new policy ideas ahead of implementation. As part of the project, teams generate funding templates for Small Island Developing States to attract new investment in projects designed to promote young participation and sustainable development.
Meanwhile, at the Countering Violent Extremism event, the Commonwealth Secretariat launched a manual for managing and supporting the proactive reintegration of violent extremists returning from conflicts, and their families, whilst keeping communities safe and stopping the spread of terrorist ideals.
The Commonwealth People’s Forum — the largest gathering of civil society in the Commonwealth — concluded yesterday after two days of deliberations. The second day focused on three sessions: Innovations in Participatory Governance; Advancing Freedom of Expression in the Commonwealth; and a Commonwealth for All. (End)