Maria Oliver
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL
Your Grace, Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, partners, colleagues, friends, fellow citizens of our beloved Commonwealth.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the India Commonwealth Trade Council, on behalf of our whole family, for the Prime Minister of India and for his skilful stewardship and the generosity of his government and the people of India in strengthening relations with the Commonwealth countries,
India is a place that reminds us of the interconnectedness of our world, the richness of our diversity, and the strength of our unity because everybody is saying they have a deep connection with India culturally and because India is leading member of the Commonwealth countries. We have kept our connections strong, and as a result, in a changing world, we can defend our shared values and advance our shared interests with clarity and purpose. This is not simply a point of principle. It makes a practical difference to our member states.
Thank you for your friendship, thank you for your partnership, thank you for your outstanding work at the India Commonwealth Trade Council. Thank you for giving me the opportunity and the privilege of serving you as your Secretary-General. We have been through a lot, and I’m proud of what we have achieved.
I like to share our collective hope and determination, shaped by our Commonwealth Charter and the historic global agreements on climate change and sustainable development reached previously. The goals of those agreements remain our goals today, as we strive for ever greater resilience, with our young people at our very heart. Together with clear-eyed, decisive and effective reform, we have turned that tide. Our working practices are smart, digitalised, agile and responsive.
Our ability to bring people and nations together is stronger than ever. And our program of practical support and assistance for all our member states is broader, more comprehensive, and more impactful now than at any time in our 75-year history.
Upon the strong foundation of reform, every one of the promises I made to you on taking office has been delivered. Every mandate enacted. Every request for support responded to. A smart, modern, confident Commonwealth restored as an influential and indispensable force for good in our world. We will deliver this together in the face of immense, unprecedented, and unpredictable challenges which have shaped the experience. The gravity, scale and complexity of these challenges cannot be underestimated.
The profound intensification of our economic challenges, fueled by destabilising global conflict and a devastating pandemic which shut down our nations and claimed the lives of more than 1.3 million of our Commonwealth brothers and sisters. The accelerating impacts of climate change and ecological breakdown causing more frequent and devastating disasters, destroying lives and livelihoods, threatening years of hard-won progress. Mounting pressure on the process, culture, and institutions of democracy.
We work together, or we suffer in isolation. It is in this togetherness that the real strength and value of the Commonwealth Trade Council can be found.
Thank you,
Maria Oliver
Secretary General
India Commonwealth trade council
