Luanda, 9th December 2022: Honourable Ms. Peggy Onkutlwile Serame, Minister of Finance is leading the Botswana delegation at the 10th Summit of Heads of State of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which is currently taking place today in Luanda, Angola. The Summit is held under the theme: “3 Continents,3 Oceans, 1 Common Destiny”: Building A Resilient And Sustainable OACPS”. The OACPS comprises 79 Member States from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific regions representing 41 percent of the United Nations membership and 1.1 billion of the 7.8 billion global population. Leaders from the 79 States will deliberate on ways to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, eradicate extreme poverty, advance market access, accelerate industrialisation and value addition, and integrate the economies of the OACPS countries in the world economy. The discussions are held with invited strategic partners including the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and leaders from Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Slovenia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, India, the European Union, the African Development Bank, and the Commonwealth.
The 10th Summit is taking place in the shadow of multiple concurrent geopolitical crises, including chronic insecurity, increasing energy and food insecurity, rising hunger and malnutrition, abject poverty, terrorism, health pandemics, climate change and environmental disasters and desertification, among others. The Summit resolved to strengthen inter and intra OACPS Cooperation as the primary enablers to build resilience and strengthen self-reliance in OACPS States. The Summit also underscored the importance of leveraging its numerical strength and diversity to negotiate development cooperation with partners based on equality, mutual respect, mutual understanding, and shared prosperity.
The Summit will receive a report from the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the Declaration of the previous 9th Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2019. The Heads of State and Government will adopt a Declaration to provide strategic direction for the Organisation for the next three years.
In addition to this, the Republic of Maldives was admitted as the 79th member of the OACPS.
