By Greg Quinn
British High Commissioner to Guyana
On 11 March the 53 members of the Commonwealth will celebrate Common-wealth Day. The theme of this year’s day is: ‘A Connected Commonwealth’.
As I have said before the Common-wealth is an organisation with deep roots and profound strengths. As a group of like-minded countries we face new and unprecedented challenges. These include: weak global trade and investment flows; new cross-border security threats; the effects of climate change on small and other vulnerable states; and threats to our shared values of democracy, good governance and inclusivity as set out in the Commonwealth Charter.
In April 2018 the UK hosted the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London and Windsor. It was the largest summit of its kind in the UK’s history. It agreed ambitious policy objectives, setting a clear agenda to build a future that is fairer, more prosperous, sustainable, and secure. In support of these objectives the UK announced over £500m (approximately GY$137.5bn) of project funding and confirmed we are opening new diplomatic missions in nine Commonwealth countries.
