Cyprus to host Commonwealth meet

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland kicked off her meetings in Cyprus on Monday, setting the stage for Friday’s Commonwealth ministers’ meeting on oceans.

The Commonwealth SG met President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace and was later set to hold discussions with House President Annita Demetriou, as Cyprus is preparing to host the inaugural meeting under the theme ‘Our resilient common ocean: from Cyprus to Samoa’.

The meeting will be attended by government ministers and senior officials from across the Commonwealth and is an opportunity for member countries to voice their concerns.

Coastal states make up 49 out of the 56 Commonwealth members and all countries depend on the ocean for trade, transportation, access to resources and for security.

Commonwealth ministers responsible for ocean affairs will meet with the aim of establishing the principles, priorities and actions for a Commonwealth Ocean Declaration, and to agree on a roadmap to pave the way for adoption of the declaration at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa this year.

The gathering follows a call to action for conservation and sustainable use of the ocean by leaders at the CHOGM in Rwanda in 2022.