The thirteenth Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting is being held today at the sidelines of the General Debate of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The member countries heard a briefing from the Secretary General, about the developments under the mandate given by the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), as well as on developing a Commonwealth position on the post-2015 development agenda. The Ministers also discussed preparations for CHOGM 2015, and other global issues of importance to the Commonwealth.

 

Minister Dunya made a statement at the meeting, supporting the Commonwealth initiatives on small states and the post-2015 development agenda. The Maldives, while recognizing the importance of establishing the vulnerability index and a resilience index, called on the Commonwealth to include political aspects in the resilience matrix, “as unless small states institutions are developed and strengthened, economic and social development would always remain shaky”.

The Commonwealth will also host an open-ended meeting of Commonwealth head s of Government on CHOGM Reform and on post-2015 development agenda.

ENDS