Secretary-General travels to New York for high-level meetings

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will travel to New York from 22-26 September 2009 for meetings with Commonwealth Heads of Government, Foreign Ministers and senior UN officials. The meetings will take place in the margins of the 64th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Commonwealth Foreign Ministers will meet in New York on Thursday 24 September 2009, and review preparations for the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Trinidad and Tobago from 27-29 November. They will also discuss issues of current interest to the Commonwealth, including responses to the global economic situation and its impact on small and vulnerable states.

The Foreign Ministers meeting will be followed by a Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting on Terrorism the same day. Discussions will include regional and international cooperation in the global counter-terrorism effort, and the composition and role of the Commonwealth Committee on Terrorism.

Both these meetings will be chaired by Hon Sam Kutesa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, in his capacity as the representative of the Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office, President Museveni of Uganda.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which deals with serious or persistent violations of the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values, will also meet in New York on 26 September 2009.

The meeting will review developments in the Fiji Islands since the Group’s last meeting on 31 July, including Fiji’s full suspension from the Commonwealth on 1 September 2009.

Speaking ahead of his trip, the Secretary-General said: “These important meetings on the Commonwealth calendar take place at a crucial time for world leaders – during the United Nations General Assembly, and as leaders gather in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the G20 meeting.

Whether the 53 member state Commonwealth addresses just 20 of the world’s richest nations, or its entire global UN community of some 190 countries, it says the same things: that we must hear the voices of all – large and small, rich and poor – and that the optimal solutions are common solutions, which reflect the interests of all the members of the world community.”.

Note to Editors:

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) was established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in November 1995 to deal with serious or persistent violations of the 1991 Harare Declaration, which sets out the Commonwealth's fundamental political values.

The Group is convened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, and made up of Foreign Ministers from nine countries.

It currently includes the Foreign Ministers of Ghana, Malaysia (Chair), Namibia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, St Lucia, Uganda (Vice-Chair) and the United Kingdom.

For media enquiries, please contact Eduardo del Buey, Spokesperson, Commonwealth Secretariat at Tel: +44 (0)7740 450901; or e-mail: e.delbuey@commonwealth.int