Vice-President Meriton attends 20th Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting | 16 October 2020
Vice-President Meriton and his delegation during the meeting
Vice-President Vincent Meriton, in his capacity as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, led the Seychelles delegation at the 20th Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM) held virtually on Wednesday October 14, 2020.
The Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting, which is held annually, provides an important platform for member States to address key issues of importance and
mutual concerns.
The focus of this year’s meeting was to take stock of progress made in the implementation of the mandates given by the heads of government at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April 2018, as well as to deliberate on the Commonwealth’s response to various issues currently dominating the global agenda, namely, Covid-19, climate change,
social tensions and racism.
While making his intervention, Vice-President Meriton appealed to the Commonwealth to call on the G20 group and other multilateral institutions to immediately recognise and integrate vulnerability into operational frameworks to combat the economic impacts of Covid-19.
He equally urged the Commonwealth to play a key role in ensuring that there is equitable and affordable access for all to a Covid-19 vaccine, once available.
Seychelles also offered its support to the Commonwealth ‘No More’ campaign, which seeks to end domestic and sexual violence across the Commonwealth.
During the meeting, the Commonwealth secretary general, the RT Hon Patricia Scotland QC, equally commended the government of Seychelles for its support as part of the Commonwealth’s response to assist the government of Mauritius during the recent devastating oil spill.
Other highlights of the meeting included the endorsement of a powerful statement on anti-racism calling for the adoption of “concrete and sustainable paths of action to address systemic racism wherever it occurs”.
As host of the next Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM), the Rwandan Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta, briefed ministers on the preparatory steps being undertaken by the government of Rwanda and the Commonwealth Secretariat, leading up to the next
CHOGM.
This meeting of heads of government was originally scheduled to take place in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2020, however due to the outbreak of the Covid-19
pandemic, it has been postponed to June 2021.
Vice-President Meriton was accompanied at the meeting by Dr Marina Confait, principal secretary for Foreign Affairs and Hervé Pool, Third Secretary, Foreign Policy Division of the department of Foreign Affairs.
Press release from the department of Foreign Affairs