President commended for promoting Commonwealth ideals

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the Commonwealth Foreign Ministerial Action group meeting at CHOGM 2015, 

Malta – Pic by Sudath Silva, President's Media

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is the current Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, received accolades for his commitment to promote Commonwealth principles.

“The Chair in Office President Maithripala Sirisena did a wonderful job to promote Commonwealth ideals,” said the Secretary General of Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Kamlesh Sharma.

President Sirisena, accompanied by his wife Jayanthi Sirisena arrived in Malta Thursday morning to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2015, to be held at Fort St. Angelo in Birgu from 27-29 November.

Speaking to media after a joint press conference with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at the CHOGM Media Center in Valetta, Dr. Sharma said President Sirisena’s total commitment to promote commonwealth principles such as democracy, human rights and accountability is exceptionally good.

President Sirisena was received at the Malta International Airport by senior officials of Malta Government and the Commonwealth.

“President Sirisena, as Chair in Office of the Commonwealth, not only extended the secretariat all possible cooperation, but in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly devoted a substantial time to promote the Commonwealth principles,” the Secretary General added.

President Sirisena took his responsibilities as Chair in Office very committedly and seriously and his work is not yet over, he is coming here too to hand over the Chair to Malta, Dr. Sharma pointed out. “It is indeed a great pleasure to work with him,” the Secretary General said.

The President is to hand over the position of Chair in Office of Commonwealth to the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat.

Muscat said after he takes over as Chair in Office from Sirisena, he would work with the vision of making the organisation a people’s Commonwealth, rather than a Commonwealth of States. He added that the Commonwealth countries should show a political will in favor of sustainable development.

Dr. Sharma announced that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will be in Malta for the Commonwealth summit which will begin at the historic Fort St. Angelo today. The UN Chief will be addressing a session on climate change, which is expected to take center stage during this biennial summit.

The event, which brings together 53 heads of state and government from across the globe, could have an influence on the Paris summit on climate change scheduled to take place a week later.

Meanwhile the Finance Minister of Malta Edward Scicluna announced the establishment of a new Commonwealth fund initiative for providing trade financing facility to smaller members of the Commonwealth. Four countries – Sri Lanka, India, Mauritius and Malta – joined this fund initiative.

Minister Scicluna said this step was taken as a part of the proposal made in the Kotte Statement issued at the end of the Colombo CHOGM 2013.The Statement proposed to develop practical measures to promote trade flows to address the issue. This was aimed at overcoming constraints to trade faced by smaller states of the Commonwealth.

A working group comprising representatives from leading institutions in emerging markets trade finance was formed to assess the feasibility of developing and implementing Commonwealth trade Finance facility. Initially this will aim at a funding of $ 20 million.

Meanwhile CHOGM is examining potential candidates for the post of Secretary General for the 53-member association as Dr. Sharma will complete his tenure with the CHOGM 2015.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake participated in CHOGM Foreign Ministers Meeting and Economic Forum respectively. The Summit will commence today.