Ghana marked the 71st Commonwealth Day celebration with a flag-raising ceremony at the forecourt of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, on Monday 13th March 2023, under the theme “Forging a Sustainable and Peaceful Common Future”.
The theme for the celebration was to give Commonwealth countries the opportunity to reflect on their present challenges, gains and to chart a sustainable and peaceful future for the Commonwealth family.
The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Thomas Mbomba, MP, in his address recalled that at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Kigali in 2022, Ghana along with other member nations, reaffirmed their commitment to the common values and agreed actions and policies of the Commonwealth, to improve the lives of all their citizens. He stated that the CHOGM also committed to work to deliver a common future by connecting, innovating, and transforming in order to facilitate a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
His Majesty King Charles II, in a speech read on his behalf by the British High Commissioner to Ghana, H.E. Harriet Thompson, stated that the Commonwealth has diversity of thought, culture, tradition and experience and added that by cooperating with each other, many of the solutions that are being sought would be found.
“This extraordinary potential, which we hold in common, is more than equal to the challenges we face. It offers us unparalleled strength not merely to face the future, but to build it.
Here, the Commonwealth has an incredible opportunity, and responsibility, to create a genuinely durable future, one that offers the kind of prosperity that is in harmony with nature and that will also secure our unique and only planet for generations to come” he added.
On his part, the Charge d’affaires of the Rwandan High Commission in Ghana, Mr. Theophile Rurangwa who represented H.E. President Paul Kagame, Chair-in-office of the Commonwealth, recalled Ghana’s historical membership of the Commonwealth and added that the celebration presented the 56 Commonwealth countries the opportunity to recommit to their shared values including consensus-building and common action, which gives them the power to influence positive change across all continents. He informed that his county, Rwanda, is committed to peace, not only for Rwandans but for all the peoples of Commonwealth.
The Head of Mission for the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Ghana, Mr. John Obeng Apea, noted that, the 10th anniversary of the Commonwealth Charter renews the commitment of its values to member nations and was hopeful that it will help to ensure that in the years to come, a peaceful and common future will be a reality for the whole Commonwealth.
The celebration was climaxed with a tree-planting exercise at the premises of the Ministry in remembrance of the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Source:Mybrytfminline.com
