Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris will represent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is taking place in Kigali, Rwanda from June 21 to 25.
The CHOGM in Rwanda will be attended by the 54 Member States of the Commonwealth.
The CHOGM will be opened by Rwanda President Paul Kagame on June 24 with the presence of the Prince of Wales, the latter representing the Head of the Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth. This will be followed by high-level meetings of the Commonwealth Heads on June 24 and 25 and preceded by the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting (CFAMM) on June 23.
The theme of the 2022 CHOGM is ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating and Transforming’, highlighting the work of the Commonwealth family in achieving its shared goals of protecting natural resources and increasing trade.
Foreign Minister Peiris will participate in high-level discussions under the three thematic areas of ‘Democracy, Peace and Governance’, ‘Sustainable and Inclusive Development’, and ‘Post-COVID-19 Recovery’.
The Foreign Minister is also expected to hold bilateral meetings at foreign ministerial level with several Commonwealth Member States from Europe, Asia and Africa on the sidelines of the CHOGM, to discuss issues of mutual interest.
Sri Lanka is among the eight founding members of the Commonwealth, and hosted the 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo in November 2013. The CHOGM in Rwanda was due to take place in June 2020, but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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