<\/p>\n
By Iddi Yire<\/p>\n
Accra, Nov 11, GNA \u2013 Madam Shirley Ayorkor\u00a0Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional\u00a0Integration, has called for the repositioning of The\u00a0Commonwealth to help transform the economies of\u00a0member states and to ensure their resilience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking at Chatham House, London on the topic \u201cThe\u00a0Commonwealth Reimagined for a fast-changing world to\u00a0respond to the needs of our people and the planet\u201d, the\u00a0Minister highlighted six areas for repositioning the\u00a0Commonwealth, namely trade and investment; youth\u00a0education, skills, innovation, start-ups; mobility and labour\u00a0markets; climate change; small states; and managing\u00a0resources for an effective Commonwealth Institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are to meet the ambitions of the citizens of the\u00a0Commonwealth, it is clear that we need a development\u00a0<\/p>\n
cooperation framework that works for all the\u00a0Commonwealth as a community,\u201d Madam Botchwey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the Commonwealth provided a unique setting for\u00a0international cooperation, with the ability to convene 56\u00a0countries from five different regions, including some of the\u00a0largest and richest countries in the world, and some of the\u00a0smallest and most vulnerable. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the Commonwealth had a population of 2.5\u00a0billion, adding that 60 per cent of the population was aged\u00a030 or younger. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey said by numbers, demographic\u00a0data, political profile, wealth and economic potential as\u00a0well as re-profiling to build resilience in the face of climate\u00a0change and the future world of work, the Commonwealth\u00a0should be the second most consequential organisation of\u00a0states globally, saying \u201cbut the question we must ask\u00a0ourselves is whether it is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey said the Commonwealth does\u00a0enable member countries in different regions of the world,\u00a0consisting of a variety of races and representing a number\u00a0of interests and points of view, to cooperate through the\u00a0exchange of opinions in a friendly, informal, and intimate\u00a0atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Touching on trade and investment, Madam Ayorkor\u00a0Botchwey said the largest number of citizens in the\u00a0Commonwealth did not earn enough to power the\u00a0production and market expansion needed to create\u00a0economic security, whether in the industrialized or\u00a0developing regions of the Commonwealth. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to deliver a framework for Commonwealth\u00a0trade to surpass the potential $2 trillion trade within the\u00a0Commonwealth,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She noted that having a common Commonwealth strategy\u00a0for industrialization, and economic diversification,\u00a0strategically linked to Regional Integration Agreements\u00a0and Economic Partnership Agreements within and beyond\u00a0the Commonwealth, was a guarantee against the\u00a0stagnation that is widespread across our countries. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cOur citizens watch as we struggle with policies\u00a0to raise growth in isolation through austerity and high\u00a0taxes. The pie is simply not capable of feeding everyone\u00a0unless consumer-based market expansion considers the\u00a0potential of our 2.5 billion population.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With regard to youth, education, skills, innovation and\u00a0start-ups, the Minister said young people in the\u00a0Commonwealth constitute a third of all young people in\u00a0the world. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She said with advances in information and\u00a0communications technology (ICT), automation and\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI) and the innovations of social\u00a0media for distance learning, building the tech and other\u00a0<\/p>\n
workers of the 21st century for a Commonwealth-wide\u00a0market of high knowledge-intensive innovation and\u00a0services is an achievable goal in the short term. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She said closing the Commonwealth\u2019s digital gap in\u00a0health, education, and trade; building the digital\u00a0infrastructure to boost connectivity within and between\u00a0Commonwealth countries was an important way forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said taking advantage of the best practices and\u00a0attainments across the Commonwealth, they could design\u00a0core curriculum and common standards and facilitate\u00a0access to borderless financing to ensure that they were the\u00a0leaders in innovation, start-ups, and services in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to leverage our commonwealth and economic\u00a0potential as well as the potential for re-profiling to build\u00a0resilience in the face of our changing world,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Minister said the rich part of the Commonwealth\u00a0needed the poorer part as much as the poorer part needs\u00a0the richer part. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless we strategize on how to make the developing\u00a0country members of the Commonwealth, who constitute\u00a094 per cent of the organization, a vital part of an agenda\u00a0of ensuring and promoting democracy and good\u00a0governance, economic transformation, and resilience of\u00a0all the Commonwealth, we shall all be the poorer for it,\u201d\u00a0she stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GNA\u00a0<\/p>\n