One Year of Action. One Commonwealth.
Today, Commonwealth Secretary-General, Hon Shirley Botchwey, marks one year in office. Over the past 12 months she has delivered major milestones, including the Commonwealth Strategic Plan 2025–2030 and the first-ever Commonwealth Business Summit, and her proposed reforms and pathways for Commonwealth renewal have been emphatically endorsed.
And just last month she saw her vision of a Commonwealth Day celebrated in every Commonwealth member country come to pass.
Reflecting on these landmark achievements, Secretary-General Botchwey said:
“It is important to pause and recognise the milestones of the past year. This has been a year of real change. We have moved quickly. I stepped into this role during a time of global crisis – one that makes the Commonwealth’s mission more urgent than ever.
“The weakening of the multilateral system, including the unilateral imposition of tariffs on our member countries, the disruptions to the global supply chain and stalling growth that has affected the quality of life in both our rich and poorer countries, also presents our members with a moment of opportunity to take advantage of the benefits the Commonwealth offers.
“Our mission cannot be fulfilled by words alone. We need practical, focused, people-first action. And that is what we did from Day One: We moved forward with purpose, courage and an unshakable commitment to a Commonwealth that truly prospers.”
A roadmap for results
The new Strategic Plan applies the evidence-based strengths of the Commonwealth Secretariat to a set of future-proof goals in four key areas:
- Democracy and governance
- Economy and trade
- Climate change and our ocean
- The cross-cutting priorities of youth, gender and small states
The plan is to advance democracy – even when the world is struggling to make sense of increasing fractures. The plan is to ensure justice and inclusion, and build the networks and partnerships that will uphold and protect them.
The Secretary-General has advocated for more agile election observation missions, and she has proposed to Commonwealth Members of Parliament that they take up the challenge and join these missions.
Driving trade and investment
The Commonwealth Business Summit held in Namibia in June 2025 brought together Governments, CEOs and investors to forge new partnerships and investment opportunities. Part of the discussions over the past year have included strengthening international and national financial systems, delivering innovative public debt management with the Commonwealth Meridian platform, and finding sustainable sovereign debt solutions.
Together with the International Monetary Fund, the Commonwealth Secretariat trained public debt managers from 16 Caribbean countries. The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH) – working with member countries and international climate organisations such as the Global Environment Facility – unlocked almost US$600 million in climate finance.
One of the fast-tracked actions by the Secretary-General was an increase in the number of CCFAH climate finance advisers embedded around the Commonwealth, strengthening ministries and departments from within. The Commonwealth has also upskilled thousands of practitioners and stakeholders to level-up the fight against climate change.
And on the eve of the United Nations Ocean Conference in France in June 2025, the Secretary-General shared a global message to motivate countries to ratify the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty), and Commonwealth countries made their voices heard.
Empowering the next generation
More than 500 Commonwealth youth leaders and officials came together in Malaysia and Namibia, as part of ongoing efforts to promote their inclusion in policy, governance and innovation.
The Commonwealth’s promotion of women’s economic empowerment, gender-responsive policies and leadership – in climate, health, sport and other areas – is ensuring that inclusive, future-proof policies can deliver for its 2.7 billion people.
Scaling impact through collaboration
The many crucial partnerships through which the Commonwealth has delivered results have, over the past year, been wide-ranging but always strategic. New partnerships have been forged with, among others:
- The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs
- The International Trade Centre
- The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, on ocean conservation.
- A renewed partnership with the World Health Organization will focus on the delivery of equitable access to quality health services
‘Unlocking opportunities for a prosperous Commonwealth’
During last month’s Commonwealth Day, together with His Majesty King Charles III, Head of the Commonwealth, the Secretary-General brought Commonwealth leaders, partners and friends together under a common theme to remind everyone that fair, broad-based prosperity is possible if opportunities are unlocked.
The Secretary-General now sets her sights on her first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), to be held in Antigua and Barbuda in November.
“With CHOGM fast approaching, we have a clear opportunity to demonstrate what this organisation can deliver – for our member states, for the people we serve, and for the principles and goals of multilateralism itself. That will require focus, collaboration and continued openness to doing things differently.
“I am confident in what we can achieve – because I have seen this over the past year.
“Today is a personal milestone for me, but it is also a chance for all of us to reflect and look ahead – with clarity and purpose – and to renew our commitment to building a Commonwealth that delivers.”
