President Dr Irfaan Ali, who attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda this week, said Member States need stability and bold, innovative and visionary thinking – qualities that have been shown through the leaderships of incoming Chair, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and re-elected Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland.
“When you look at what President Kagame has achieved here with the people of Rwanda, it tells about a leader and country that has a vision, bold initiatives, creative initiatives… So, having a Chair that brings that experience in a practical way I think allows us to have something that is functional, direct and creative in dealing with the challenges that we’ll confront,” President Ali posited.
The Guyanese Head of State joined officials at a closing press conference today in Kigali.
According to President Ali, such needed leadership is present within the Commonwealth to navigate its 54 members, especially the 32 small states, through difficult paths in addressing pressing issues such as global crises and insecurities in the areas of food, energy, climate change and inequalities.
“When you look at the crisis and the insecurities we’re facing in the world today – food crisis, energy crisis, a climate crisis, a crisis of inequality – we require this type of leadership and these characteristics to navigate us through these difficult paths. I think President Kagame coming in at this time as Chair [of Commonwealth] would help greatly the Commonwealth family to navigate through this path and with the SG bringing that stability and pushing those programmes, I think we have an excellent to confront these challenges.”
“Many times, the developing world would look to the developed world for answers and best practices. What Rwanda has shown the developing world is that we can have the answer among ourselves and within ourselves too, and is this type of leadership and example by doing that is required in creating some of the changing circumstances that is so critically needed,” the Guyanese Leader stated.
President Ali and First Lady, Arya Ali, travelled to Rwanda earlier this week to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was held under the theme “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming”.
The official opening of the CHOGM was held on Friday and followed by high-level meetings of leaders before wrapping up today.
