Ghana’s Foreign Relations minister, Shirley Ayorkor has been appointed as the new Commonwealth Secretary General.
She becomes the second African after Emeka Anyaaoku to hold the position in the 75-year history of 56- member bloc.
The leaders of the group majorly comprising former British colonies, have been at a summit in the pacific Island nation of Samoa where the issue of reparations for slavery was a talking point and acknowledged as a “painful” past by King Charles who is the head of the Commonwealth.
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Part of the communique is for members to do more to save the oceans as 49 member countries have coastal boundaries in the face of rising ng sea levels.
Others include the protection of at least 30 per cent of the ocean and restoring at least 30 per cent of degraded marine ecosystems by 2030; the urgent finalisation of the Global Plastics Treaty as well as the
ratification of the high-seas biodiversity Agreement on Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement and the implementation of coastal climate adaption plans and strategies, including vulnerability assessments and nature-based solutions, such as blue carbon.
The bloc’s next meeting in 2026 will be held in another island nation, Antigua and Barbuba
