President Danny Faure attended the Formal Opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) 2018, in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace this morning. This is President Faure’s first CHOGM.

In the afternoon, he attended the Executive Session of CHOGM where he addressed leaders of all countries of the Commonwealth. He spoke on the need to place young people at the centre of development and the importance of pushing the agenda on the vulnerability index.

President Faure began by expressing his honour to address the Commonwealth Youth Forum on Monday 16 April 2018, and said that there is a need to focus on prosperity today. “We need to build prosperity today so that young people can benefit. We need to place young people at the centre of development; especially since 60% of the Commonwealth’s population is under 30 years of age. They represent the future,” said the President.

President Faure also highlighted the importance of considering the vulnerability of Small Island States when allocating Official Development Assistance for concessional loans.

The core of the CHOGM are the executive sessions, which are the formal gatherings of the heads of government to do business.