Commonwealth Secretary-General visits Cyprus

30 September 2009

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma is visiting the Republic of Cyprus from 30 September to 2 October 2009.

Mr Sharma is leading a Commonwealth Secretariat team to this year’s Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Limassol. The Finance Ministers Meeting on 1 and 2 October will focus on dealing with the various impacts of the global economic crisis.

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Secretary-General said that the meeting comes at a critical time, ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank that will take place in Turkey a few days later, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009.

“Drawing from the diversity of experiences in dealing with the economic crisis, finance ministers have an opportunity to share and learn from each other, and also to inform future efforts aimed at tackling the crisis. It is expected that outcomes from this meeting will be presented to leaders during CHOGM in Port of Spain,” Mr Sharma said.

“There is a real expectation about the meeting, partly born of the backdrop of global economic turbulence in which it takes place, and the recognition that we can only come through it if we act together.”

He added: “A year ago, when our finance ministers last met in St Lucia, the world was entering into deep recession. Most would agree that it is still deep in it – and that its residual effects will be all the worse for the smaller, weaker, poorer countries without either the institutions or the economic resilience to weather its storms.”

During the visit, the Secretary-General will also meet the President of Cyprus and other leaders.

This will be Mr Sharma’s first visit to Cyprus since he took office as Secretary-General in April last year.

Note to Editors:

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