Positive mood promises successful CHOGM

The positive mood which prevailed during the Commonwealth youth, people's and business forums was an "excellent" ingredient for a successful heads of government summit, Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said yesterday.

Mr McKinnon was speaking at a Pre Foreign Ministers Meeting press briefing at the CHOGM media centre in St Julians which was also addressed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, together with Foreign Minister Michael Frendo and Commonwealth deputy secretary general Florence Mugasha.

Commonwealth Foreign Ministers meet in Malta today and tomorrow ahead of the Commonwealth summit which starts on Friday.

Mr McKinnon said the ideas being discussed during these forums were important food for thought for the heads of government as they represented different areas of interest within the Commonwealth as seen from different viewpoints.

Mr McKinnon was asked how CHOGM could "in practical and concrete terms" solve the problem of lack of governance and eradicate poverty in the Commonwealth.

"Do you mean how can this summit solve the world's problems," Mr McKinnon asked in return, smiling.

He said CHOGM was neither the G8 - and therefore had no power to write off debt to poor countries or take measures of the sort - nor the United Nations security council.

"The conference will discuss which objectives and programmes within the Commonwealth could be targeted to reach our overall aims of networking," Mr McKinnon said. It would not seek big bang solutions, he quickly added.

Dr Gonzi said the mission statement of the conference was primarily development. "Globalisation is challenging all countries. The Commonwealth, with its diversity, is an excellent locus to transform these challenges into opportunity," he said.

Fielding a question by the press, Dr Gonzi said mass migration was on the agenda of the heads of governments meeting as this was intrinsically linked to poverty - an absolute priority for the conference.

Speaking of trade barriers as another important topic on the agenda, Dr Gonzi said Malta looked at the various aspects of this issue and this not just in economic terms.

"When we are speaking of economies, we speak of human beings and their wish for prosperity and these dimensions should not be overlooked," he insisted.