As part of the COVID-19 Policy Briefing Series, this webinar will explore maritime trade landscape in the Commonwealth and demonstrate how maritime trade and shipping can help to revitalise Commonwealth trade post-COVID.
Commonwealth countries are estimated to have lost up to US$345 billion worth of trade in 2020, including $60 billion in intra-Commonwealth trade, according to 2021 Commonwealth Trade Review on “Energising Commonwealth Trade in a Digital World: Paths to Recovery Post-COVID”.
This edition of the biennial Commonwealth Trade Review presents new empirical findings about the impact of the pandemic and outlines practical recommendations to boost trade recovery and build resilience, especially by harnessing digital trade and digital technologies, utilising post-Brexit trading opportunities and promoting more sustainable green and blue economies.
This joint side event by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will focus on the informal use of vulnerability indices in development financing decisions.
In the face of multiple global crises, debt-for-climate swaps are being widely discussed as an instrument to manage mounting public debts, climate change challenges and Covid-19 recovery. Belize is a small island developing state in the Caribbean region facing these challenges. The Government of Belize has requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to provide assistance to design and implement a ‘Debt for Climate/Nature Swap Mechanism’ for the country.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is hosting a webinar in partnership with Microsoft about the skills that young people need to be competitive as employees, entrepreneurs and digital citizens. Over 60 percent of the Commonwealth's 2.4 billion citizens are aged 29 or under. This webinar will offer an opportunity for young people from across the Commonwealth to talk about their digital skills needs and challenges with industry experts.
Continuing determined action is needed for malaria rates to fall by more than 50 per cent by 2023 to meet the target set out by Commonwealth leaders, the Secretary-General urged on World Malaria Day.
The new public debt management legislation passed by The Bahamas will help the country navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Minister of State for Finance, James Thompson.
This virtual event, co-organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), will focus on the soft infrastructure needs of Commonwealth member countries in relation to training and capacity building around digital infrastructure.
In this virtual event, speakers will discuss digital agriculture and digital fisheries, especially during the global health pandemic. The event builds on the outcomes of the 4th Supply-Side Connectivity Cluster meeting of the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda held in November 2020 which called for a focus on smart agriculture for sustainable development.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has welcomed the historic appointment of former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to head the World Trade Organization, the first woman and representative of the African continent to do so.
This virtual event will explore the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector, including a review of current policy initiatives being undertaken to tackle the tourism decline.
New petroleum-producing countries are facing key challenges linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a crash in oil markets, a significant decline in investments, along with long-term impacts of the global transition towards a lower carbon economy.
The webinar will explore some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on trade in food products in Commonwealth countries in the early months of the pandemic.
Gambian President Adama Barrow has told the Commonwealth Secretary-General that his country is “happy to be back” in the family. The Secretary-General is in The Gambia for her first official visit since the country re-joined the Commonwealth in 2018 - almost five years after leaving the association. She commented: “President Barrow’s words are a testimony to the longstanding partnership between The Gambia and the Commonwealth."
Annual transfers of money by foreign migrant workers to their home countries play a huge role in many countries. These remittances provide income support for family members back home and, in some cases, provide funding for start-ups. Remittances are also a source of foreign exchange reserves for developing countries and they help contain trade balances and widen the revenue base through increased consumption
Beyond the immediate human impact, violence against women and girls also costs billions of dollars a year, be it in lost work, damaged children, hospital fees or police time. The global cost of violence against women and girls was estimated at $1.5 trillion in 2016 – making everyone across the world at least $200 poorer that year.
Trade ministers and business leaders from across the Commonwealth will gather virtually to examine how they can work together to spur a digitally-inclusive and green recovery in the face of devastating economic impacts linked to COVID-19.