O le Ao o le Malo,
Your Majesty,
Secretary-General,
Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since this is the first occasion on which I find myself attending this gathering of our “Family of Nations,” as Head of the Commonwealth, it gives my wife and myself enormous pleasure and pride to be with you for this twenty seventh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. I would particularly like to thank the Government and people of Samoa for your warm-hearted hospitality, and for showing us all the ‘Island Way’, which I recall so fondly ever since I first visited the Pacific region almost six decades ago.
The Commonwealth mattered a great deal to my dear mother, The late Queen. Her commitment to you all, as that of my grandfather, King George VI, before her, is one which has helped to shape my own life for as long as I can remember. Since my first visit to Malta, aged just five in 1954, I have travelled to almost every corner of the Commonwealth. I have met remarkable people in every conceivable walk of life, and learned a great deal from so many proud cultures and traditions.
All of this has given me an unshakeable faith in the special nature of our Commonwealth and the extraordinary value it holds. This is a family – or aiga as our Samoan hosts would say – of countries, of organizations and of people. All nations are equal in this unique and voluntary association.
This year, as you all know, is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Commonwealth – and, incidentally, shortly to be my seventy-sixth! - and throughout that time we have committed ourselves to developing free and democratic societies and promoting peace and prosperity for all. This endeavour underpins how we understand and tackle contemporary and emerging challenges – rooted in our shared belief in the rule of law and an international order where every nation has a voice.
Together, we represent a third of humanity, with all the splendidly diverse complexity that this entails. And yet we know and understand each other, such that we can discuss the most challenging issues with openness and respect.
At a time of heightened global tensions, of horrifying conflict and challenges of the greatest magnitude, it seems to me that these connections between us are more precious than ever. Together we are wiser, stronger and more able to respond to the demands of our time.
That said, our cohesion requires that we acknowledge where we have come from. I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate.
It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history –to guide us to make the right choices in the future. Where inequalities exist, for example, in access to opportunity; to education; to skills training; to employment; to health; and to a planet in whose climate our human race can both survive and thrive, we must find the right ways, and the right language, to address them. As we look around the world and consider its many deeply concerning challenges, let us choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect, and reject the language of division.
None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.
Nothing, it seems to me, would do so more decisively than to champion the principle that our Commonwealth is one of genuine opportunity for all.
This principle has guided so much that I have sought to do throughout my life. In the United Kingdom and around the Commonwealth, I have tried, in whatever way I can, to foster opportunity – particularly for young people and for those whose voices might not otherwise be heard. That is why, when we met in Malta nearly a decade ago, I asked the then Prince’s Trust, now The King’s Trust - which is shortly to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary – to expand its work internationally and across the Commonwealth. I am delighted that The King’s Trust International will next year be celebrating its tenth birthday and that, with local partners, its important work has already reached over 100,000 young people in this time.
In this spirit, and following conversations with the many leaders of island states gathered here, I asked the Association of Commonwealth Universities and its numerous members to consider the vital issue of access to education. I am delighted therefore by the offer to launch a new Commonwealth Fellowship Programme for students from the small island states to build skills that will underpin a resilient future – such as in nursing, teaching, engineering and the green transition.
A further urgent challenge - and one that conditions all other challenges, as I have done my best to emphasize for many years, is the existential threat of climate change. I have spoken with many of you in the recent past, and I now find that climate change is raised as a primary concern, again and again. We are well past believing it is a problem for the future, since it is already, already undermining the development gains we have long fought for. This year alone, we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihoods and human rights are at risk across the Commonwealth.
I can only offer every encouragement for action, with unequivocal determination, to arrest rising temperatures by cutting emissions, building resilience as far as possible to both the current and forecast impacts of climate change, and conserving and restoring Nature both on land and in the sea. If we do not, then inequalities across the Commonwealth, and beyond, will only be exacerbated with the potential to fuel division and conflict.
Over many years it has become clear to me that public finance, while crucial, will never be sufficient on its own to tackle all of this – let alone achieve any of the United Nations Development Goals – especially in the timeframes required. The Commonwealth, therefore, has an opportunity to work together with the private sector and civil society to unlock private sector capital for this mission and, in so doing, promote trade and investment, and opportunities for young people.
I was encouraged to hear yesterday from leading members of the private sector that they recognized their ability and, indeed, their responsibility to aid and invest in climate transition, in resilience and in Nature restoration. I do hope that in your conversations you are able to answer some of the key questions to achieve this aim - from how to address barriers to investment; to agreeing upon routes to use public finance to encourage private investment; and, crucially, how public-private-civil society partnerships can be forged so that such arrangements are fair and transparent for all.
If, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Commonwealth can succeed with this endeavour, then it will be an indispensable example to the rest of the world.
Together, we can expand opportunities across this family of nations to build shared prosperity and truly resilient economies – while also meeting growing challenges such as disinformation and extremism, and ensuring that the untold potential of technology, including Artificial Intelligence and social media, works for our societies, not against them. We can surely try to invest in as many as possible of the one-and-a-half billion people under the age of thirty in the Commonwealth to ensure they have the right personal development. This means skills, opportunities and entrepreneurial drive, as well as the ability to thrive and prosper in this changing world while being shielded from the negative aspects of technologies.
I know from speaking to many of you in recent months, and from all that I have heard from around the Commonwealth, that these are among the issues that matter most to you and your people. I am pleased that they resonate strongly with the themes that Samoa has chosen for this C.H.O.G.M.
I can only hope, over the days ahead, that you will make meaningful progress on these matters. In so doing, I trust you will take inspiration from the ‘Pacific Way' – working with respect, compassion and compromise as your guides.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Few of our forebears could have imagined the Commonwealth of today. Our free association of proudly independent nations, alive with opportunity, stands in proud defiance of the discrimination of the past. We have not reached this point by accident; shared vision and collective courage have been our lodestar. As we set a course for the century ahead, we can renew our courage with our faith in one another.
For my part, I can assure you today that for however many years God grants me, I will join you and the people of the Commonwealth on every step of this journey. Let us learn from the lessons of the past. Let us be proud of who we are today. And together, let us forge a future of harmony with Nature, and between ourselves, that our children and our grandchildren deserve.
