27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM | |
---|---|
Host country | Samoa |
Dates | 21–25 October 2024 |
Cities | Apia |
Chair | Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister of Samoa |
Follows | 2022 |
Key points | |
Election of Secretary-General |
The 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Samoan: 2022 Fonotaga a Ulu o Malo o le Taupulega), also known as CHOGM 2024, will be the 27th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. The meeting is scheduled to be held in Samoa from 21–25 October 2024.[1][2]
The theme for the meeting is "One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth"[3] with an aim to strengthen "resilient democratic institutions upholding human rights, democracy, and the rule of law"[2] as well as combatting climate change in particular its impact on small states and island states.[4] The meeting will be the first full Commonwealth summit held since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the first presided over by King Charles III as Head of the Commonwealth.[3] It will also be the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in a Pacific Small Island Developing State.[5] The King's trip to the South Pacific, which includes a tour of Australia prior to the Commenwealth summit in Samoa, will be his first major overseas trip since his cancer diagnosis in early 2024.[6]
According to former Jamaican prime minister PJ Patterson, reparations for slavery is one of the agenda items to be discussed at the summit.[7]
There will be an election for a new Commonwealth Secretary-General as Patricia Scotland indicated in 2022 that she would only serve for two more years.[8] Ghanian foreign minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey,[9] Gambian foreign minister Mamadou Tangara, and Senator Joshua Septiba of Lesotho have announced their candidacies for the position.[10] All three candidates have called for financial reparations or “reparative justice” for countries that have been harmed by slavery or colonialism.[11]