Commonwealth Calls For Reform In Global Financial System.

By Ferdinand Olise

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland KC, has called for more viable global financial system, stating that, limitation of the global financial system is letting many countries down.

She also called for greater cooperation to protect humanity from overlapping economic, environmental, and security challenges, stressing that, cooperation is a key way to protecting humanity from crises.

At the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in Kampala Uganda, the Commonwealth made the call.

Addressing leaders from 121 Non-Aligned Movement countries on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Ministers, and strategic partners,, the Secretary-General said overcoming crisis around the world requires heightened cooperation from all Commonwealth countries.

“Our world is tightly bound by a tangled knot of crises spanning global economic, environmental and security systems. These crises are serious, complex and increasingly entrenched.

“Overcoming them will require a level of international political and economic cooperation, which is unprecedented in this century.”, she said.

While acknowledging the immense pressure on the multilateral system, she urged world leaders to make use of their innate abilities in getting things done in order to achieve qualitative results for the benefit of humanity.

She stressed that, in togetherness they can heal the felt mistrust, and strike a balance from confrontation to dialogue, and collaboration, as their perspectives are essential, and their action imperative.

The Secretary-General while speaking on the disproportionate impacts of climate crisis on people, communities, and economies across the Commonwealth, she recounted the recent devastation in Vanuatu, a member of both the Commonwealth, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

“The beautiful island nation of Vanuatu was devastated by category five Cyclone Lola, last year, which hit seven months after the twin cyclones Judy and Kevin wiped out 50 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, with rebuilding efforts now estimated at 80 per cent of GDP.”

She stressed that many developing countries are left with no choice, than forced to borrow loans on unfavourable terms, for rebuilding, resulting to a vicious cycle of unsustainable debt.

She expressed concern over the lack of adequate international support for climate-vulnerable developing countries, noting that the limitations of the global financial system are letting many countries down.

Responding to a report that many climate-vulnerable developing countries spend more on external debt payments, than on projects to protect people from the impacts of climate change, she called for the reform of the global financial system.

“We need to rewire the entire system, with action rooted in the sharpest honesty about where we are, driven by evidence, and flowing through every sector, from finance, energy, and trade to health, education, and digitalisation. In all of this, we must work and act together.”, she said.

The Secretary- General warned that, without meaningful reform, there could be setbacks in the fulfilment of human rights, basic needs, and the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

She therefore pledged her commitment to the reform process, stating that the Commonwealth will not rest until all countries, from the largest to the smallest, have an equal say in decisions affecting them.

Scotland KC therefore congratulated President Yoweri Museveni, of Uganda for championing the Non-Aligned Movement, and promised the Commonwealth’s full support during his term.

She also thanked the Non-Aligned Movement, which shares 44 of its 121 members with the Commonwealth, for its longstanding engagement with the Commonwealth.