{"id":18721,"date":"2024-10-24T23:41:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T23:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paulkagame.com\/?p=18721"},"modified":"2024-10-24T23:41:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T23:41:27","slug":"chogm-opening-ceremony-remarks-by-president-kagame-apia-25-october-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/?p=18721","title":{"rendered":"CHOGM2024 Opening Ceremony | Remarks by President Kagame | Apia, 25 October 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Your Majesties<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Your Highness, the Head of State of Samoa<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Prime Minister of Samoa<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Excellencies<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Secretary-General<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>I am very pleased to join you for the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>To the Government and people of Samoa, our host, I thank you for the warm welcome and hospitality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>It has been a great honour for Rwanda to serve as Chair-in-Office for the past two years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I congratulate Prime Minister Fiam\u0113 Naomi Mata\u2019afa, and wish you all success as Chair.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rwanda stands ready to support you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>It is also fitting for us to thank the Secretary-General for her distinguished service to our organization, during her historic tenure.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This year\u2019s meeting marks yet another milestone in the history of the Commonwealth family.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Samoa is the first Pacific island state to host CHOGM.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This comes at a turning point.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Temperatures are rising, and for small island developing States in the Pacific and the Caribbean, this is literally a matter of survival.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Africa and Asia also share this burden.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Two-thirds of the world\u2019s small states are members of the Commonwealth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We cannot ignore the voices of those who are bearing the brunt of this crisis, and they should not have to beg for our support.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>As we head to COP-29 in a few weeks, let\u2019s act and lead by example. Making empty promises can only move the needle for so long.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We continue to support His Majesty the King\u2019s Sustainable Markets Initiative, as a blueprint for public-private partnerships and green investment, throughout the Commonwealth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Indeed, what will make us cross the finish line in the fight against climate change is more finance from wealthy countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Still, our collective efforts must not stop there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The terms must be favourable, without pushing developing countries into more debt.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Commonwealth\u2019s comparative advantage remains its young and vibrant population.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Creating digital jobs for women and young people should remain at the top of the agenda this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We must rely on the potential for innovation and technology to resolve the daunting challenge of rising unemployment and irregular migration.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This is also a good way to bridge the skills gap, and the imbalances in human capital development opportunities between our regions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Artificial intelligence should not become a problem. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>If we use it responsibly, and establish sound policies, we can transcend the realm of our imagination, and become even more resilient.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Earlier this year, the Commonwealth turned 75.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What was once an association of eight countries, is now one of 56.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Equality, diversity, and solidarity are the values that bind us together.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Because of this, where we have the opportunity to right our wrongs, let\u2019s do that, and find a consensus that can stand the test of time. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>With respect for each other and our differences, we can move forward towards our common future.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Your Majesties Your Highness, the Head of State of Samoa Prime Minister of Samoa Excellencies Secretary-General Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen I am very pleased to join you for the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. To the Government and people of Samoa, our host, I thank you for the warm welcome and hospitality. It has been a great honour for Rwanda to serve as Chair-in-Office for the past two years. I congratulate Prime Minister Fiam\u0113 Naomi Mata\u2019afa, and wish&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speech","post-has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18724,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18721\/revisions\/18724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}