KIGALI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was scheduled in June this year but was postponed due to the impact of COVID-19, will take place in June next year in the Rwandan capital city Kigali, the Commonwealth Secretariat said Wednesday.
The new date agreed with member countries will be the week of June 21, 2021, the secretariat of the 54-member association said in a statement received here.
Next year's meeting will be an "exceptional" occasion to deliberate together on the enormous technological, ecological, and economic challenges and opportunities facing the Commonwealth, particularly the countries' young people, which are "all the more pressing" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the statement.
The Kigali meeting, also the 26th edition, will be the first one to be held in Africa in this millennium. The association looks forward to Commonwealth leaders coming together to "take practical action on the critical issues we all face," said the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland.
These include not only post-COVID recovery, but also climate change, the global economy, trade and sustainable development, which need to be dealt with "decisively" through "multilateral cooperation and mutual support," she said.
The leaders' summit will be preceded by meetings for representatives from Commonwealth networks for youth, women, civil society and business.
Rwanda on Tuesday reported 16 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total cases and recoveries to 4,738 and 2,991, respectively.
CHOGM is the Commonwealth's highest consultative and policy-making gathering. Commonwealth leaders selected the central African nation as host for the next summit during the last meeting in London in 2018.
Home to 2.4 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries, its 32 members are small states, including Rwanda, one of a few Commonwealth members that don't have historic links to Britain dating back to the colonial era.
The former Belgian colony joined the Anglophone association in 2009, after the Rwandan government decided to change the medium of education from French to English. Enditem
