President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the CHOGM said that “we must first focus on eradicating common -poverty, prior to focusing on the common- wealth”.

Speaking further he said that the Commonwealth should respond sensitively to the needs of the people.

“We must not let it turn into a punitive or judgmental body” he said.

“Members of the Commonwealth must collectively guard against bilateral agendas being introduced into the Organisation, distorting Commonwealth traditions and consensus.

The strength of the Organisation lies in keeping the member countries together, helping one another in a spirit of partnership and making the Commonwealth truly unique, President Mahinda Rajapaksa,” said.“If the Commonwealth is to remain relevant to its member countries the Association must respond sensitively, to the needs of its peoples and not let it turn into a punitive or judgmental body.”

In his inaugural address at the CHOGM 2013 at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, the President said hosting the CHOGM was a historic occasion for Sri Lanka.

“Faced with tough challenges we in the Commonwealth need to ask ourselves, a few questions. First, can we realistically say that the need for basic facilities, healthcare, education, productive employment, access to food and safe drinking water, eradication of poverty and hunger, are of lesser importance than political concerns,” he asked. “We in Sri Lanka are stepping into a new era of peace, stability and renewed economic opportunities that have been long denied to my people, due to the menace of terrorism that existed for nearly three decades. In ending terrorism in 2009, we asserted the greatest human right, the right to life. I am happy to state that in the past four years, there has not been a single terrorist related incident, anywhere in Sri Lanka.”

The President said as a matter of priority the Commonwealth member countries should focus on development challenges, confronting a majority of them.
“I see a compelling need for those who guide the destiny of the Commonwealth to give serious thought to practical modalities, focusing on social and economic issues. This will greatly enhance the relevance and value of the Commonwealth,” the President said.

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamlesh Sharma said it was very good to see CHOGM back in Asia, home to three-quarters of the people of the Commonwealth as the first-ever CHOGM took place in Singapore in 1971.

“But it is almost a quarter of a century since a CHOGM was last held in the Asia region — that was in Kuala Lumpur in 1989,” he said.

“Wisdom and discovering where we can add to the global good, is our continuing Commonwealth gift to the world. Ideas and action flowing from meetings of Commonwealth leaders are remarkable in particular for the distinctive way in which they are right for the moment; and they change the moment. We recall the visionary yet applied understanding of the Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding, and its essential message to undo what divides us and to do what unites, to see each other not through a reductionist lens, but through a prism in which our unique individual identities with their full richness and complexity can be valued and respected and celebrated. It remains a Commonwealth message and balm for all our societies, in their diversity, and to the world,” Mr. Sharma noted.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)