Amitav Banerji
Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry, are we ready yet, am I? Yes. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to you all to Chatham House this evening, and both to those of you here and those of you who’ve joined us online from across the world. A very special welcome to our chief guest, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana, whom I shall introduce a bit more fully later on.
My name is Amitav Banerji. I work for the Global Leadership Foundation, which is a group of 44 retired leaders from across the world who are quietly available to give advice, on invitation, to any of today’s leaders who feel they might welcome some peer advice. It is Chaired by Helen Clark of South Africa, who is also a Co-President of Chatham House.
But I imagine the reason I’ve been invited to moderate today’s event is that before joining GLF, I spent 25 years at the Commonwealth Secretariat, in various capacities, retiring as the Political Director. I’ve therefore had the privilege of seeing the Commonwealth evolve through two-and-a-half decades after two milestone developments: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid in South Africa, and it’s lovely to see several Commonwealth friends here.
Before I introduce the subject and our speaker, let me make some housekeeping announcements. Today’s event is on the record. Online attendees should submit questions using the Q&A function, but please keep your questions succinct. I will, with the help of Chatham House staff, endeavour to get through as many of the questions as possible, though obviously we have limited time and we can’t possibly cover all of them.
For those asking questions online, you may be asked to unmute yourself, but if you’d rather not do that, please indicate when you ask your question, and your question will then be asked on your behalf.
For those in the room, please raise your hand, if you wish to ask a question, and if I call on you, a handheld microphone will come to you. Please remain seated, please identify yourself and ask your question, and again, please kindly be brief. That ends the housekeeping information.
Ladies and gentlemen, when the modern Commonwealth was born in 1948, it was really quite an extraordinary first in international relations. That a number of former colonies should voluntarily agree to join together with the former colonial power in a voluntary association of states and look collectively to the future and away from the past was quite a remarkable development.
It is relevant to point out that other organisations of this type came much later. The Francophonie was constituted in 1970, the Lusophone Community was born in 1996, and the Ibero-American Secretariat only came into being in 2005. But while it was a trailblazer, it was never an easy ride and the Commonwealth has had its ups and its downs. It has continued to grow, and today it consists of 56 countries, representing nearly one-third of the world’s population and about one-fourth of its global land mass.
Increasing membership, and yet others want to join, must be a sign of appeal and of relevance, and on the other hand, it is one of a plethora of international organisations that each member state belongs to, and fighting with others for priority.
Today’s event is taking place at a critical moment. The Commonwealth has just lost a very special leader, who served as its Head for nearly 70 years, and who was often referred to as a glue that held it together. The passing of Queen the Elizabeth II and the transfer of the baton to King Charles the III is a milestone moment for the Commonwealth.
We have also recently seen one Caribbean country move from being one of the remaining Realms to becoming a Republic, and two others announced their intention also to travel in the same direction. We have witnessed two Francophone countries being admitted to Commonwealth membership, and the war in Ukraine has impacted on international relations in a way that makes every international organisation reassess its role and its relevance.
How can the Commonwealth respond to the challenges that face the world and that confront the Commonwealth itself? This is the broad subject of this evening’s event, and we are here to listen to Madam Shirley Botchwey. She has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana since January 2017. She has extensive experience in foreign policy, having earlier served twice as the Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs. She led Ghana’s successful bid to become a member of the UN Security Council for 2022/23, and she has just returned from Chairing a Security Council meeting in New York, and believing it – believe it or not, is going to get on another plane back to New York tomorrow.
She has also held other Ministerial portfolios in the course of her distinguished political career, and may I add, that there is something particularly special about Ghana in the Commonwealth. Not only was Ghana the first Commonwealth country in Africa to become independent and join the Commonwealth, excluding apartheid South Africa, but it was Kwame Nkrumah that pushed for the Commonwealth to have an independent Secretariat, rather than having it continue to reside in the Commonwealth Relations Office of the United Kingdom, and this led to the formation of the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1965.
Madam Minister, welcome again, and the floor is yours.
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
[Pause] Mr Chairman, Excellencies, distinguished members both here and online, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased and honoured to share my ideas with you on the Commonwealth at a time of great strain for national economies, the existential crisis of climate change and natural disasters, and the enormous opportunity it presents us for building resilience through new ways of doing things.
Let me thank Chatham House for providing this very unique forum, and Amitav Banerji for Chairing the event. The Commonwealth provides a unique setting for international co-operation, with the ability to convene 56 countries from five different regions, including some of the largest and richest countries in the world, and some of the smallest and most vulnerable.
The Commonwealth has a population of 2.5 billion. 60% of this population is aged 30 or younger. By numbers, demographic data, political profile, wealth and economic potential, as well as reprofiling to build resilience in the face of climate change and future world of work, the Commonwealth should be the second most consequential organisation of states globally. But the question we must ask ourselves is whether it is so.
We must acknowledge the contributions of past Secretaries-General since 1965, from Arnold Smith, Shridath Ramphal, Emeka Anyaoku, Don McKinnon, Kamalesh Sharma, and our current Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland KC. Each of these leaders faced challenges of their times and did deliver for the Commonwealth family. We must salute them.
Our Commonwealth does enable member states, in different regions of the world, consisting of a variety of races and representing a number of interests and points of view, to co-operate through exchange of opinions in a friendly, informal and intimate atmosphere. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s purpose, as articulated in the revised agreed Memorandum, is to serve member states by facilitating and promoting consultation on matters of common consent, and it’s also expected to expand and adapt pragmatically in the light of its experience to better carry out its functions.
The Charter provides a strong framework for promoting prosperity, democracy and peace, justice and human rights, empowering women and young people, boys and girls, amplifying the voices of small and vulnerable states, and advocating for environmental protection, in terms of the blue economy and climate change through its Blue Charter.
Since the Charter and the Memorandum were adopted, the terrain for multilateralism has significantly altered. We therefore need to rethink the new Commonwealth by looking into the original impetus for its creation, and the 2005 revised agreed MoU. As we do so, we must be inspired by the aspirations set out in the Charter and the realities of our time.
We have witnessed the dramatic effects of climate change and natural disasters, sweeping our blue islands, as well as flooding, droughts, change in distribution of rainfall, drying-up of rivers, abnormal sea walling, locust invasion and energy poverty in poor member countries. Democracies are facing threats as governments are overwhelmed in responding to the expectations of citizens. Inequality threatens our societies, while the fraying of social protection systems opens up our societies to threats from populist and ultra-nationalist, in some cases violent extremist.
The economic orthodoxy, which is responsible for the greatest achievement since the Industrial Revolution, has been exposed by the supply chain impacts of COVID-19, with its resultant shrinking of economies, particularly in the productive sectors, the war in Ukraine and the worsening climate events associated with climate change.
Social mobility has stalled, even though the future world of work, including climate adaptation, opens new opportunities through the way we teach our young, leverage innovation and services through ICT, social media, automation and artificial intelligence. More now than ever, there is the need to build greater resilience and achieve sustainability, enabling us to reduce the risk of present and future shocks, and accelerate progress towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Jobless growth or wealth creation with high unemployment, and rising cost of living characterises nearly all our economies. Commonwealth countries need to create 50,000 decent jobs each day until 2030, to provide opportunities for young people entering the labour market. It is estimated that together Commonwealth countries need to create three in every five jobs in the world, as the labour force in countries such as Japan, China and Europe shrink.
Within the Commonwealth itself, labour mobility does not correspond to the labour rigidities of our economies, denying markets the skills and resources needed to create goods and services needed to power greater inclusive growth and wealth creation.
It is quite clear that we have failed to draw the link between young tech workers, the ubiquity of services they provide and anxiety over physical migration. The Commonwealth has the world’s greatest vulnerability to climate change, with 32 of its members being small states. As extreme weather events annually wipe out infrastructure, resulting in devastating droughts and food security, and impede other development gains in many Commonwealth countries, most notably in small island developing states, the scope of the strategic failure for a common strategy around renewables is mindboggling.
If we are to meet the ambitions of the citizens of the Commonwealth, it is clear that we need a development co-operation framework that works for all the Commonwealth as a common community. Such a model will not be based on the assumptions of progress under which assistance from the rich donors to recipient nations lead to slow assistance, slow incremental change in the developing countries, and locks in financial and other inflows to the donor countries. Either way, this is a co-operation model that is not working for industrialised or developing parts of the Commonwealth.
I’d like to propose six areas for repositioning the Commonwealth to transform the economies of the countries in the Commonwealth, enable inclusive development and climate resilience, and respond to the expectations of the hundreds of millions across the Commonwealth for a good life. These are trade and investment, youth, education, skills, innovation and start-ups, mobility and labour markets, climate change, small states, and managing resources for an effective Commonwealth institution.
Trade and investment: the largest number of citizens in the Commonwealth do not earn enough to power the production and market expansion needed to create economic security, whether in the industrialised or developing regions of the Commonwealth. We need to deliver a framework for Commonwealth trade to surpass the potential US$2 trillion trade within the Commonwealth.
Having a common Commonwealth strategy for industrialisation and economic diversification, strategically linked to regional integration agreements and economic partnership agreements within and beyond the Commonwealth is a guarantee against the stagnation that is widespread across our nations.
Our citizens watch as we struggle with policies to raise growth in isolation through austerity and high taxes. The pie is simply not capable of feeding everyone, unless consumer-based market expansion considers the potential of our 2.5 billion population.
Youth education, skills, innovation and start-ups: young people in the Commonwealth constitute a third of all young people in the world. With advances in ICT, automation and AI and the innovations of social media for distance learning, building the tech and other workers of the 21st Century for a Commonwealth-wide market of high-knowledge, intensive innovation and services is an achievable goal in the short-term.
Closing the Commonwealth digital gap in health, education and trade, building the digital infrastructure to boost connectivity within and between Commonwealth countries is an important way forward. Taking advantage of the best practices and attainments across the Commonwealth, we can design core curriculum and common standards, and facilitate access to borderless financing to ensure that we are the leaders in innovation, start-ups and services in the world.
Mobility and labour markets: labour shortages and other rigidities as well as the lack of opportunity drive unsafe, disorderly and unregulated migration that bedevil policy and public sentiment in the richer parts of the Commonwealth. A Commonwealth-wide mobility compact can help redress labour and skills demand through safe, orderly and regulated migration, while the ability to teach or train young people, wherever they live in the Commonwealth, as well as a common Commonwealth market allows work and services to be exchanged without relocation of workers across borders.
Climate change: it is impossible to look at a future-looking Commonwealth without a robust Commonwealth strategy on climate adaptation. We need to achieve a resilient Commonwealth by enhancing climate change leadership and technical assistance, unlocking vital finance for vulnerable countries, building blue and green economies across the Commonwealth, and helping members overcome external shocks.
Within the Commonwealth, we have huge needs for development and installation of renewables. We also have leaders in the production and servicing of renewables. With credit and other financing from the richer part of the Commonwealth, we will ensure that each member of the Commonwealth benefits from the renewable revolution and low-carbon transition of the economies, and those concerned about the cost of transition would be open to implementing the emissions standards agreed to at the Conference of Parties. This is the true win-win. No-one loses, including those who provide financing at market rates.
Small states: small states face unique development challenges. These countries are particularly vulnerable to exogenous shocks such as natural disasters and climate change. With limited economic opportunities and significant migration, they often face capacity constraints. Small states remain susceptible to external shocks because of their geographic positioning, inherent structural challenges and deep integration into the global economy.
On the other hand, we have seen the possibilities of small states taking advantage of the economies of scale the wider Commonwealth offers. Commonwealth should continue to put a special lens on small states in support of building resilience and promoting inclusive development in these vulnerable economies.
We must prioritise small states to better access sustainable financing, build resilience and have a voice on the global stage. This requires leveraging our convening power for consensus-building, and the formation of Commonwealth positions in key global policy fora, and advocacy efforts to secure the uptake of Commonwealth ideas in strategic international decision-making bodies, to ensure that our small states achieve climate resilience and economic development.
Managing resources for an effective Commonwealth institution: an ambitious Commonwealth should be funded at comparative levels as other multilateral organisations. Together with a more credible programme resource envelope, it is time to review the human resourcing and budget of its Secretariat. This would enable more resources to be ploughed back into programmes, as well as ensuring a resilient Secretariat with long-term stability, attracting and retaining the best of the Commonwealth talent in service to all members.
Across the organisation, we need to make decisions on how we take advantage of expertise from member states, including from academia and research organisations, as secondment to the Secretariat, to enable the cross-fertilisation that would enrich the work of the Secretariat and transform our Commonwealth. The potential for tapping into the pool of experience and retired Commonwealth professionals, who want to offer their service pro bono to Commonwealth countries, also remains to be exploited.
To conclude, we are in this together. We must acknowledge that the true value of our Commonwealth is linked to our common health, our common lives and common values. We need to leverage our common wealth and economic potential as well as potential for reprofiling to build resilience in the face of our changing world.
The rich part of the Commonwealth needs the poorer part as much as the poorer part needs the richer part. Unless we strategize on how to make the developing country members of the Commonwealth, who constitute 94% of the organisation, a vital part of an agenda of ensuring and promoting democracy and good governance, economic transformation and resilience of all the Commonwealth, we shall all be the poorer for it. I thank you for your attention.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you very much, Honourable Minister, for sharing your vision of the Commonwealth and how it can make itself even more relevant to the people of the Commonwealth, to the governments of the Commonwealth. I think your focus on engaging young people, on labour mobility, on how the rich and the poor can strengthen each other and co-exist and play to their strengths to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals are all extremely relevant, and I want to just probe you a little bit more on the question of climate change and the environment.
This meeting is taking place as we have a very big summit happening in Sharm El-Sheikh; President Nana Akufo-Addo is there. Yesterday the UN Secretary-General put things, I thought, rather dramatically when he said, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” It is very stark in Commonwealth countries as well, recently we saw Pakistan reeling from floods, your neighbour, Nigeria, has been experiencing severe flooding, cyclones and hurricanes batter small islands, Maldives and Kiribati face extinction if the sea level continues to rise.
What do you think the Commonwealth can do, with its variety of members, to galvanize action towards more effectively fighting climate change?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Thank you very much. One thing that the Commonwealth can do: as we speak, we have the Secretary-General in Sharm El-Sheikh, advocating for the small states and for Commonwealth countries, to make our voices heard, and especially the 32 small, vulnerable states amongst us, some of whom are under the threat of being wiped out completely. And so, for me, I think it’s extremely important that we need to have our voices heard, and to bring to the fore what exactly is happening in our member countries, and so that’s one thing that the Commonwealth, I believe, is doing quite well.
Another thing also is to let the world know that climate change is not just about the environment, but it has a direct effect, impact on the lives of people. Today you have rivers, you have lakes drying up, and it therefore means that people who survive need that – those river bodies, or those water bodies to survive no longer can do so, and so, there’s a lot of migration moving about, and so on and so forth. And I use Africa as an example, but there’s several countries that are feeling the effects of droughts, of floods, drying-up of water bodies, and their very survival is threatened as a result. So, we need the Commonwealth, already Commonwealth is doing quite a bit, we need Commonwealth to focus, yes, on the small island states, the small, vulnerable states, but also on the big ones, because we’re clearly seeing the effects of it, and we need attention.
Look at what plans the member countries have, and see how best they can help members’ countries. First of all, look at the plans; how do we deal with these issues, and also how do we surmount the issues? Because these issues affect the lives they’re living of the citizens of the Commonwealth, so, what do we do, in terms of their resilience? How do we ensure that we become resilient? Is it in farming methods? Is it in ensuring that our economies are helped one way or the other? These are not affecting only the small, vulnerable states or the developing countries. Even the developed countries now can – now face issues to do with climate change, and so, I think we are in this together, and we need to find ways of ensuring that the effects are actually dealt with.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you. I wanted to ask, when the Commonwealth was conc – was born, the modern Commonwealth, there was a great emotional bond amongst some of the leaders of that time, the Nehrus, the Nyereres, the Kaundas, the Nkrumahs of the world. As time progressed, new generations of leaders have come into office, and it is for them a challenge to justify to their people all the time what value the Commonwealth is to them.
I think especially today’s young people question, “What value are we getting from our membership of organisation X or Y?” Every member state belongs to a plethora of international organisations and needs to prioritise and be able to justify. What would you say, in terms of what is special about the Commonwealth, if you were advocating continued membership, for example, of the Commonwealth, were it to become an issue?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
First of all, let me say that young people are demanding from their governments accountability for the multilateral institutions that they belong to. They’re asking, “What do we get out of this, what are the benefits?” But even more now than ever have we needed to belong. We cannot live – and no country can live as an island, and so, I think that the uniqueness of the Commonwealth is the assistance that it gives to member states. However, it is assistance that is usually asked for, solicited from the Commonwealth, it’s not assistance that comes generally to member states. And so, I think one of the ways in which we can make the work of the Commonwealth known to our citizens, so they see the benefits of the Commonwealth, is making it known to them what it actually does.
In Ghana for instance, we’ve had the Commonwealth assist us build capacity of the judiciary, the Peace Council, Parliament, in maritime matters, debt management, I can go on and on and on. However, the only time that the Commonwealth is seen, is visible to their citizens is during election periods, when the Commonwealth comes in as observers, and also some – and to some extent, during Commonwealth Games. We need to make sure that the Commonwealth is more visible, and maybe the Commonwealth may also want to do so by making sure that their communication is more visible, communication in member states. But I think that it is incumbent on member states to make their engagement with the Commonwealth Secretariat well-known. Because otherwise the young people will continue, and not just the young people, citizens will continue to ask what the benefits are for us belonging to any organisation.
Amitav Banerji
I will ask one more question before I open the floor, because I don’t want to monopolise. Another thing that is happening today in the current context, Madam Minister, is that we have a hot war in Ukraine that is impacting on almost every country across the world, in various ways, in terms of grain and energy supplies, fertilisers, etc. But we are seeing also the building of a larger Cold War, a return of the Cold War, if you like, the West and Russia, the United States has this big rivalry with China.
The Commonwealth was conceived in the context of a Cold War and was a bridge-builder, because it itself brought together people from developed countries, developing countries, countries that were from all continents. In this polarisation where Commonwealth developing countries all have to take sides, and not all are very comfortable with doing so, how do you think the Commonwealth can be the bridge-builder again?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Let me say that the war in Ukraine, the war in Ukraine by Russia is affecting each and every one of our states, and I use Ghana as an example where it has affected our economy. It’s coming on the heels of COVID-19 pandemic. We’re grappling with the effects of climate change, and then the COVID comes, COVID-19, and now the war in Russia and Ukraine, and so, each country can actually feel the effects of it.
And so, if I take Ghana, for example, we feel the effects because food prices have gone up, because of unavailability of fertilisers, and also supply chain issues, which means that we don’t get the grains. Unfortunately, the grain deal is falling apart, to bring grain so that some grains can end up in Africa. So, these things are affecting us directly, and so, you cannot say that you will not take sides.
We are calling on them every time to sit at the table, to use diplomacy, and I think that one thing that the Commonwealth must continue, or must ask these powers to do is to use diplomacy to address the issues, negotiate between the two countries, because what happens in one place far away, ‘cause Ukraine is quite far from Africa, but we are really feeling the effects of it, and so, we’re saying that – countries are saying that, “Yes, this is happening.”
One country may take a position other than another. We have said that in the interests of international law, sovereignty of a nation, the territorial integrity of a nation, it is wrong for this to happen. So, Ghana has taken a stand that this should not happen, and against the invasion of Ukraine. Others have taken different positions, for various reasons, but I think that whatever position we take, it is important that we all ask the parties to sit at the table and resolve it, because they can go on and on for years, but at the end of the day, it has to come to the table for negotiations for it to come to an end.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you very much. I’m going to go to the floor and ask for an indication of hands, and I’ll remind you that, please, identify yourself. The gentleman there in the beige jacket and the muffler.
Patrick Smith
Thanks very much. My name’s Patrick Smith from Africa Confidential. Minister, you referred to climate change and yesterday, at the first full day at the COP Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, there was a pretty fierce debate over Africa’s right to initiate new fossil fuel projects, particularly oil and gas projects, and the Western powers were pushing back very hard and saying, you know, “If Africa, with 1.3 billion people now, 2.5 billion people by 2050, goes the fossil fuel route, the world will be burning by the end of the century.”
A lot of people think that’s a hell of a cheek, to say that, but it was said. What can – what should Africa do, what should Africa’s response do – be, and what – and how could the Commonwealth help it? I mean, the high-level panel by Nick Stern and Vera Songwe concluded that to obviate this impending disaster, we need $2 trillion a year funding for developing economies. That clearly isn’t even on the agenda at this summit, it’s not even being considered, let alone argued about, so, what should Africa do, how should it respond, and how should the Commonwealth respond?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Thank you very much. I believe that Africa has the right to exploit its natural resources. However, with the issues of climate change, we are being asked not to, or at least been giving a transition. We are saying that we should be allowed to exploit our resources in a responsible way. But just telling us to strand our assets underground, I think it’s not fair because countries that are developed have done so on exploitation of their natural resources. And so, I think Commonwealth should give us some assistance.
African countries, and not just African countries, some Caribbean countries as well have natural resources that need to be exploited, so that they’ll be able to develop. We need monies to develop, we need the finances to develop, and the $2 trillion a year, it’s not going to come from anywhere, no country is going to give us that kind of – nobody’s going to give us – put that kind of money towards our way.
We were told in Glasgow that 100 billion a year would be made available to – for us. We haven’t seen a penny of that, and therefore I believe that what needs to be done is to allow us, guide us to do it in a responsible manner, so we can also develop. That’s what I can say.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you very much. Gentleman here.
Ambassador Anyaoku
Thank you. Thank you, Madam. Just to the last point that was raised…
Amitav Banerji
Can you identify yourself?
Ambassador Anyaoku
Oh, sorry. My name is Ambassador Anyaoku. I used to be a Staff of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Head of Africa Department, and actually, you were our boss as Director of Political Affairs. Thank you.
The issue we are discussing, I think, about climate change, I think it’s – we’d better stop pretending. We should frame the questions, when we are talking of reimagining the Commonwealth, the role the Commonwealth can play is to reframe the question. You cannot have headache and ask me to take Panadol for you, and that’s what they’re asking us to do. You are polluting the air, we are trying to survive, and you’re asking us not to do that, but you keep on – China, the big polluters are still doing more of it. And each time we look at Africa, you sit around multilateral systems, there are no Africans sitting there. So, I think the first thing we should do, let us refrain – reframe the question. What question are we answering about climate change? It’s not just a question of “don’t do this, don’t do that.” You created the problem. The Commonwealth should take the lead, as it’s taken the lead for small states that in dealing with this international problem, I expect the Commonwealth to change in a way.
I like to go back a little bit, Madam. In my generation, we knew what Commonwealth was, those of us who are above 60, we knew what Commonwealth was. Do the youth of today know the Commonwealth? If the answer is no, the issue of reimagining the Commonwealth should start from that premise, otherwise, like you correctly said, Madam, about status, technical transfer and all of that, the youth of today must be put in the way as to understand what Commonwealth stands for, enough of shared values, shared principles.
It is something that is concrete. So, I quite liked the several areas that you identified, but I’m saying, in dealing with this question of reimagining the Commonwealth, let us reframe the question, so that we get the right answers. Let us leave out the rhetorics. I’m a Diplomat; I know we can’t solve many wars without saying anything, but let us be specific in what we are trying to say. Thank you, Madam.
Amitav Banerji
You must be brief. Yeah. I take that as a comment, and..
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Yes.
Amitav Banerji
…not as a question. I’m going to now ask a question from the online Q&A. This is from William Awomoyi. “Honourable Minister, you mentioned that young people make up around 65% of the Commonwealth, and indeed, young people are a huge resource, as you highlighted in your six-point development plan. Currently, the Commonwealth Youth Council, for which I’m a member representing the UK, only receives £27,000, which is very small when compared to other international youth groups such as the European Youth Forum, which receives £2.6 million annually. Next year is the Commonwealth Year of Youth. How should the Commonwealth go about providing finance for its youth programmes to ensure that next year really is the Year of Youth?”
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Thank you very much. I totally agree with what you’ve said. If you have 60% of your population being under 30, being young people, you need to pay attention to them, and I’m hoping that next year the fifth – is it 50th anniversary? I believe that’s what it is, is going to throw light, more light on the youth and what we need them – we need from them, and what is expected of us. Because it cannot be the case where 60% of your population is not part of decision-making. 60%,– and I’m not talking about the Commonwealth, but all countries, where 60% of your population, many are not skilled, many are not in employment, many are not contributing to the development of our countries. And so, I’m hoping that not just the Commonwealth, but countries will come together to provide funds, voluntary, for this particular anniversary, and I really would like to see the youth take the stage, telling us what they want from us and demanding the right to be part of decision-making and to be part of development of Commonwealth nations. We have pushed them to the side for too long, we cannot continue to do this.
Amitav Banerji
Gentleman here. I see only gentlemen raising their hands, I don’t see ladies, but…
Carl Wright
Thank you, Chair. Madam Minister – sorry, Carl Wright, Secretary-General Emeritus of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. You come from a country which has a highly decentralised structure of governance. Would you agree that one way for the Commonwealth to move forward is to have bottom-up development rather than top-down? I just illustrate that by the COP, which I’ll be attending next week in Sharm El-Sheikh. For the first time,– and this hasn’t been very much publicised, there will be a meeting of Ministers of Urban Affairs at the COP, which is looking at the role of cities, at the role of sustainable urbanisation in addressing climate change, ‘cause, you know, most carbon emissions come from urban settlements, from cities, and therefore it’s the Mayors, it’s the District Chairs who have a key role to address climate change.
But equally, most of the SDG targets, it’s been estimated that of the 169, something like 100 of the 169 targets of SDGs are better implemented from the bottom-up rather than the top-down, which essentially means local government, by bodies like the OECD. So, would you agree that for the Commonwealth to be successful, it has to be a bunch of bottom-up exercise as well as some top-down things?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
But I think that that is what actually we should be doing, and that is what member countries are doing. We call in the Commonwealth to support us, if we need support, but in terms of climate change, in terms of the general governance of our countries, it is really up to the member countries to carry out their programmes and to ensure that the SDGs – for us in Africa, we have localised, continentalised, if you want to so call it, the SDGs into the Agenda 2063, and it reflects directly the SDGs. And at the level of the African Union, they are monitoring all the different objectives that we have set for ourselves, because country-wide, again – but in terms of each country, they are carrying out and ensuring that the SDGs are embedded in their national plans. And I’m hoping that that is what is happening in other parts of the Commonwealth, I think that is what is happening, because you cannot have your national development plan without paying attention to climate change, to women’s empowerment and to clean water, resilient communities, and so on and so forth.
That cannot be the case, but maybe Commonwealth should also see what it can do to assist countries in pushing them towards realisation. But we must not forget that all Commonwealth countries belong to regional communities, and at the regional community level, and I get the example of African Union, focus is on the SDGs. And so, yes, some attention from Commonwealth will be good, but putting all of those together might be the way to go. But we are responsible at the national level, at the regional level for ensuring that we attain the SDGs, and as part of the SDGs, ensure that our carbon emissions and climate is below the 1.5% targets that we’ve been given by the Paris Agreement.
Amitav Banerji
Think I am going to go to the lady there, and I might take two or three questions together, just to make better use of time. We have only about ten minutes left, if Madam Minister doesn’t mind. Please keep them brief.
Linda Scott
Thank you, Honourable Minister. My name’s Linda Scott, I’m the Namibian High Commissioner. I just – I’m very happy to hear that you had this idea about the framework for Commonwealth trade and investment, and I just would love to hear some more ideas around that, how you see that developing and growing. Thank you.
Amitav Banerji
Can we – thank you. Can we take another question here in the front row?
Rajul Aman
So, it’s Rajul Aman. I’m an Angel Investor based in Britain. 90% of Twitter staff was let go last week. Jeremy Grantham, who’s a Fund Manager, said that we are currently going – a super-bubble, which is 1929-style. Given the youth are not engaging with the Politicians of the world, is the Commonwealth really relevant when social media’s taking over the common narrative that is being spread across the world?
Amitav Banerji
Shall we take one more?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Yeah.
Amitav Banerji
Yeah, the gentleman here has had his hand up for a while.
Hugo Barker
Hi, Hugo Barker from Imperial College. I work on the policy around emerging disruptive technology, and I was really interested to hear your push for greater grouping of knowledge within the Commonwealth Secretariat itself, the actual – the people that work on this type of stuff.
I think that countries don’t quite realise what’s coming down the line on development and technology. We can talk about AI, disruptive technology, quantum computing, and there isn’t a knowledge base even in developed, quite wealthy countries, for this stuff, and I think the Commonwealth could position it very well by actually growing that knowledge base in the Commonwealth Secretariat and sharing it across the Commonwealth as a whole.
Do you think the Commonwealth would be able to unify on regulatory policy, on standardisation of technology, on these type of topics to its benefit from that type of shared knowledge in the future? Thank you.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you very much. I think the Minister needs a chance to respond.
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Now, the first is on trade and what we can do as a Commonwealth. Let me give an example. First I make a statement: that no country has developed as a result of aid, overseas development assistance. Every country that has depended on aid has not developed as it should.
We have come to the realisation in Ghana that we need to move beyond aid, and I believe that Commonwealth countries must move beyond aid. It is good for the richer countries to give the poorer countries assistance, but we should look at sustainable ways for development, and that is trade, investment.
Most of our countries have natural resources. These natural resources are carted out in its raw form. We need to be able to build value-addition manufacturing concerns in each other’s countries, so that we can add value, create jobs for the youth.
A typical example that I have seen, and it worked so well. Trinidad and Tobago, it’s not a big country. However, they set up one of their banks in Ghana. Today it’s one of the fastest-growing banks, Republic Bank, and it has branches all over. You can just imagine Republic Bank in other African and other Commonwealth countries. It will give facilities to the small, medium, micro, small, medium enterprises, and so, these are ways in which we can trade, but most importantly, I think that we should begin to look at how best we can leverage on our competencies and what we have, in terms of resources, and use that to establish, engage and establish manufacturing concerns in each other’s country.
It would be good to see foreign direct investment from big countries into the small countries, we really would like to see that all the time, but also, what can we even do as African countries? Fortunately, we have the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is assisting us, enabling us to be able to trade amongst ourselves.
We are able also to look at, under the ACP, the African Caribbean Pacific, to look at ways in which we can trade together, so, all these are things that we can do together. But for those of us that are Commonwealth countries, I think it’s important that we now start looking at what we can do. It would be nice to go from here to the countries that are tourism-driven, to see nationals of other countries from Commonwealth – of other Commonwealth countries there, helping out. Kenya has a lot of expertise in tourism; it can transport it to another country, and so on and so forth. So, I think that there’s a lot that we can do together, but time doesn’t allow me to go into detail.
Social media, where the Commonwealth is relevant: I think that Commonwealth is relevant. It’s extremely relevant, because if it wasn’t, why would countries be lined up to join the Commonwealth? There’s something unique about the Commonwealth that we should be proud of, and I think that that in itself is something that draws others to us. The other groupings don’t have it, and I think we should continue to seek ways.
Our past is the past; there’s nothing we can do about it, in terms of us being colonies of Great Britain. But what is the potential going forward, what can we do together as a group, how do we leverage the population of 2.5, with a huge combined GDP, to ensure that we use it for our advantage? And the youthful population that no other group has, we need to be able to use them, we need to be able to put them to good use, to develop our countries, and also to ensure that we are the better for it.
Not – yes, they’re using AI, the new forms, ICT and so on, I think that is something that goes without saying, growing the knowledge base and how Commonwealth can come in. We can’t get Commonwealth to do everything, but Commonwealth can be that catalyst to push us into ways in which we can – and point us in the right direction, and already they’re doing so much in various member countries, building capacity. I’ve talked about what they do in Ghana, in other African countries, in the Caribbean for the small island states.
Amitav Banerji
Madam Minister, your comment about trade and investment reminded me that the Commonwealth Business Council has always advocated that there is a premium for trade and investment within the Commonwealth, simply because of the fact that there is common language, common business practices, and I think there is a huge potential there to give it a massive push, but that is…
Yeah, the microphone here, please.
Arjoon Suddhoo
Thank you. Arjoon Suddhoo, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Thank you very much, Honourable Minister, for a very pertinent speech, and right at the outset let me say, you know, we agree entirely with everything what you’ve said. Interestingly, the six priority areas that you’ve identified, these are more or less exactly the six priorities in our own strategic plan, and these priorities have been formulated from inputs from all 54, and now 56 member countries, so, they should be reflecting the countries of the co – you know, all our membership.
Having said that, getting the priority is probably the easy thing. Implementing it and having impact on our member states, I think that is the key thing, which you’ve addressed in your speech so eloquently. And to – in order to do that, I – we, in-house, we must have very capable people, and I believe we do have a strong team, we do have a very strong networking among all the 56 member states, but also, Madam Minister, we need the resources. I think that’s important, we need – we cannot address any weaknesses of any organisation without looking at the resources over the last ten/15 years as well. That is an exercise that we’re trying to do right now.
The youth dimension: I totally agree, this is a very important aspect that we need to look at. I also agree that, to me, if you ask me what is the weakest link in the whole Commonwealth Secretariat, is our communication. We need to enhance that, and we have developed a whole plan of relooking at our communicating strategy right from the website, and also from what we say as well.
We will be developing what we call a country report, and every year before we send the invoice to the member states, they will receive a country report and when the questions of “What’s in it for me?” does arise, the country report should say explicitly what exactly has taken place in that particular country. So, I totally agree: communication is extremely important, and it’s an area where we need to work. We’re also doing a lot of artificial intelligence, but actually, we can talk about this later, but thank you very much indeed, Minister.
Amitav Banerji
Thank you, Deputy Secretary-General. I’m going to squeeze in one last question there, the lady.
Member
Thank you very much. I wanted to ask about the expansion of the Commonwealth. We saw very recently the joining of two African nations: Gabon and Togo, as well as Angola that has applied, which was mentioned earlier. What is interesting about those countries is that they are not necessarily aligned with most other members of the Commonwealth, in terms of language or history of empire. What do you envisage, and what role do you envisage these countries can play in this reimagined Commonwealth?
The Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Interesting question. I think the question rather should be that “What do they seek to benefit from the Commonwealth?” And I think that they see something in the Commonwealth that the organisations that they belong to do not provide them. And so, for me, I’m happy that these countries, who have backgrounds of Francophone countries, have decided to join the Commonwealth, and I’m told that they’re very proud to be Commonwealth members. And already I’m sure that the Commonwealth Secretariat is looking at ways in which it can help these countries.
So, I think they’ve come to the Commonwealth, their decision to come and join the Commonwealth is as a reason of what they can benefit from the Commonwealth, which means that the Commonwealth that we belong to is one that is beneficial if we so wish it to be. Because I’m sure that there are countries that don’t solicit for any assistance, but there are countries that do, and so, let me say that we belong to a good organisation.
It’s not what probably we want it to be at this point, but it’s moved and improved over the period, and the potential for it to give us a lot more than it’s giving us is there. And so, I think engagement and making sure that we clearly are focused on the benefits and the potential and how to implement these things that we have identified is what really should be our focus. Thank you.
Amitav Banerji
Well, thank you very much. I’m afraid, ladies and gentlemen, all good things must come to an end. It remains for me to thank our chief guest, the Honourable Minister, for finding time in the midst of an incredibly hectic schedule. As I said, she’s just come from New York and is back in New York tomorrow, and goes to another function from here.
Thank you, Minister, for sharing your insights from many years of association with diplomacy, with foreign policy, with multilateral organisations, and of course, with the Commonwealth itself, and for sharing your vision of the Commonwealth of the future and how it can be an even greater force for good, and touch people’s lives in a big way. So, I will request you all to please join me in a round of applause to our chief guest.
