The Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting for 2018 ended April 20 and apart from the widely reported clamouring for Gay rights in African member Countries in the Commonwealth, the sessions held produced resolutions in trade, preservation of natural habitats and climate change.
Blue Charter
One of the major resolutions reached at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was a Blue Charter to protect the ocean from the effects of climate change, pollution and over fishing. The UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, while giving a summary of the sessions of the various countries, explained that the Commonwealth Countries had agreed to the resolution to protect the ocean considering the socio-economic and environmental impact it has on the world.
She also disclosed that all the Countries who participated in the session reached the agreement to protect the oceans after deliberating on the issue of pollution in the Oceans and the effects of climate change and over fishing.
The session considered that overfishing implies decimating the numbers of aquatic animals without supervision and, as a way of reducing the risk of extinction of some aquatic animals, agreed that there should be an instituted supervision of the oceans within the boundaries of the Countries to ensure that illegal fishing activities are not perpetuated in them.
Also, to curb pollution of the oceans, there was also an agreement to enhance the regulation of industrial waste disposals to ensure that companies did not channel waste into the ocean resulting in aquatic pollution.
Theresa May revealed that the UK and Vanuatu will take the lead on tackling ocean plastics, supported by the UK’s £60 million commitment to a Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance, (CCOA).
Her statement reads in part:
“At this summit, we have taken specific actions to protect our oceans with the first ever Commonwealth Blue Charter. We are already seeing a series of commitments that can mark the breakthrough on the battle to save our oceans. For instance, Papua New Guinea has banned plastic bags; Belize will ban plastic bags, forks, and other single-use items by 2019. New Zealand has announced a ban on microbeads, which will come into effect in June.
“The Bahamas is planning to ban plastic bags this year, and the UK has pledged to ban plastic straws, and plastic stem cotton buds”
Intra Commonwealth Trade
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, speaking further on some of the resolutions reached at the CHOGM, said the leaders had unanimously agreed to commit themselves to the vision of promoting an increase of intra-Commonwealth trade to $2 trillion by 2030 and expanding intra-Commonwealth investment.
She also announced the Declaration of the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda for Trade and Investment which is an initiative that focuses on the commitment of the Commonwealth to ensure that the Commonwealth Advantage is leveraged for the benefit of all of the 53 members. She added:
“It recognises the importance of the multilateral trading system in ensuring the integration of small, vulnerable and least developed countries and countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific into the world economy, and welcome initiatives which will support greater and more effective participation of these countries in international trade.”
This trade investment is a way of incorporating the smaller and more impoverished Countries in the Commonwealth into the trade structure in created by this agreement and positioning them for beneficial participation in the trading activities within member countries with the hope of building their economies.
Commitment to ensuring Cyber Security
One major resolution that was reached at the CHOGM was the need for combined effort to curb cyber-crime. A 2017 statistics showed that 77.4% of cyber threats were cyber-crimes and this emphasised the need for the leaders to reach a consensus on ensuring cyber security in the Commonwealth.
The 53 countries committed to the declaration of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse inter-governmental commitment on cyber security cooperation. This followed an announcement by the UK government to pledge up to £15 million to help Commonwealth countries strengthen their cyber security capabilities and “tackle criminal groups and hostile state actors who pose a global threat to security, including in the UK”.
The cyber security commitment stands as one of the most important agreements reached at the CHOGM considering the steady growth of the internet and the rise of financial institutions which are based on the internet and the threats cyber crimes pose to economies and governments. The commitment of the UK, it is believed, will go a long way in helping small impoverished member countries of the Commonwealth equip themselves for the fight against cyber threats.
