Looking ahead to the CHOGM 2024 - Samoa's Prime Minister

The Prime Minister of Samoa, Hon. Fiame Naomi Mataafa reflects on the first time that a Pacific Island country will host the biennial Commonwealth event, CHOGM 2024.

Article posted on 16/10/2024.

It is not very often that we gather to speak about the Commonwealth, but this year, we are bringing the Commonwealth to Samoa, and to our Blue Pacific continent. It is fitting therefore that we pay tribute to the Commonwealth of Nations, an important organisation that Samoa joined in August 1970, of which nine of our Pacific Islands Forum are also members.

Commonwealth Day is celebrated on 11 March every year, commemorating this year, the 75th anniversary of its journey and growth as a unique family of independent countries from Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. With its diverse membership, the Commonwealth comprises the world’s largest to the smallest, and low- and high-income countries. Of the 56 members of the Commonwealth, 33 of the world’s 42 small states are members. Samoa and seven other Pacific Island Forum countries fall into this grouping of small states, comprising a mix of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Since independence, Samoa has gradually joined many multilateral and regional organisations to bolster our political and development relations that have helped realise our development aspirations. Equally important, however, are the roles and functions that political institutions like the Commonwealth and the Pacific Islands Forum play in our development. These organisations, bring together the political leadership of our countries to consider these very issues. For many of us, the Commonwealth has been a constant in our lives, seeking to promote and advance our shared goals of development, democracy, human rights, freedom, peace and the interests of vulnerable states for and on behalf of 2.5 billion of our citizens, in particular our youth, women and children, anchored in solidarity, and the values and principles expressed in the Commonwealth Charter.

The Commonwealth is vital global partner for advocacy and support, particularly for small and vulnerable countries like Samoa. Collectively, we have an opportunity to respond and to make a difference.

Our theme for the Samoa Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2024 is ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth’. Our focus is on resilience, as a unifying approach that transcends the humanitarian, development, human rights, and peace and security pillars. The theme we have chosen will allow us to look at all the key pillars of the Commonwealth through a resilience lens. We strongly believe that we should focus on solutions and accelerated action.

We speak from the collective experience of the Blue Pacific Continent, where our Pacific Islands Forum Leaders have declared climate change as the single greatest threat to the security and well-being of our people; where the ocean makes up 96% of our Blue Pacific region; and where we are amongst the first to most immediately suffer the impacts of climate change.

This is not the first time that the Pacific has hosted a CHOGM, but it is the first time that a Pacific Island country like Samoa will host a CHOGM. Australia hosted CHOGMs in 1981, 2002 and 2011. New Zealand hosted in 1995. Vanuatu was scheduled to host the CHOGM in 2017 but was unable to host after Cyclone Pam devastated the country’s infrastructure in March 2015. These are the realities of our countries, and it is why the Commonwealth ‘Aiga’ (meaning family in Samoa) is important to us.

As host and incoming Chair of the Commonwealth, Samoa has an important opportunity to bring a unique perspective to the table and to contribute and influence discussions on all aspects of political and socio-economic development.

Above: The Prime Minister of Samoa, Hon. Fiame Naomi Mataafa (right) pictured with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon. Patricia Scotland, KC. Image credit: Commonwealth Secretariat.

Consistent with the spirit of our Commonwealth ‘Aiga’, and guided by the Fa’asamoa, the Samoa government and people eagerly anticipate welcoming the Commonwealth family to our island home and to our Blue Pacific Continent. We are working hand-in-hand with the Commonwealth Secretariat with the invaluable support of our partners and the Commonwealth Family, to ensure a successful, productive and unique event, and to the further strengthening of the spirit of Commonwealth cooperation.

This article is taken from the press statement by the Prime Minister of Samoa regarding CHOGM 2024 (3 September 2024) and also appeared in The Parliamentarian 2024 Issue Three - click here or read on ISSUU.

Hon. Fiame Naomi Mata’afa is the Prime Minister of Samoa. She first entered the Parliament of Samoa in 1985 and is the leader of the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party. She is the first female Prime Minister and was also the first Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa. She is the Member of Parliament from the Lotofaga Constituency on Upolu’s South Coast.

She first joined the Cabinet in 1991 as Minister of Education, Sports and Culture and also served as the Minister of Justice and Courts Administration and the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment. She has represented Samoa on the Executive Boards of UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning. She is currently the Chair and Pro-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific and also the Chair of the Eminent Persons’ Advisory Panel (Pacific Leadership Programme) Australia.

For further information about the CHOGM 2024 please visit the official website and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

For further information about the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association please visit www.cpahq.org or email hq.sec@cpahq.org. 

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