CARICOM back Patricia Scotland for Commonwealth Secretary-General second term

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have pledged their support for the incumbent Commonwealth Secretary General, Patricia Scotland, for a second term as head of the 54-member grouping.

According to the communiqué issued at the end of their Inter-Sessional Summit last week, the regional leaders “expressed their overwhelming support for the re-election of Baroness Patricia Scotland as Secretary-General of The Commonwealth”.

The Dominican-born Scotland was elected to the post at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta in 2015 and her re-election is scheduled for June this year, when the Commonwealth leaders meet in Kigali, Rwanda.

Scotland is the second Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post.

The 54 heads of government had expected to decide Scotland’s future at their biennial summit in Rwanda in June last year, but the meeting was postponed because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Scotland said she is pleased that the summit will now be held in June this year.

“I am delighted that the Commonwealth family can finally be reunited, 4 years on from our last CHOGM in London.

“Our meetings in Rwanda will give us a real opportunity to reaffirm the values that bind the Commonwealth together and focus on vital issues, including the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling climate change and poverty, boosting trade and promoting sustainable development – all issues that can only be dealt with decisively through multilateral cooperation and mutual support,” she said. (CMC)