A team from the Commonwealth Secretariat represented by Ms. Claire Wolstenholme and Ms. Chantal Sciberras visited Samoa from the 17th to 21st October 2022, for the First Planning Mission in preparation for the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Samoa will be hosting in 2024.
CHOGM will bring together delegations from 56 nations from across Africa, the Caribbean and Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. The Leaders of Commonwealth countries meet every two years, hosted by different member countries on a rotating basis. Since 1971, a total of 26 meetings have been held, with the most recent being in Kigali Rwanda in June 2022. The recent CHOGM in Rwanda recorded more than 6000 delegates and 29 heads of government.
The October planning Mission is the first of several planned by the Commonwealth Secretariat and other countries, as Samoa prepares to host the first Pacific SIDS gathering of the Commonwealth family.
During the visit, the Commonwealth Secretariat team met with the Prime Minister, Honourable Fiame Naomi Mataafa and also with members of the National Taskforce. They also visited several venue and accommodation options, and discussed security, accreditation, transport, protocol and several operational matters related to the meeting.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will lead the taskforce that will liaise closely with the Commonwealth Secretariat on all the preparations. The decisions on the dates and venue for the Samoa CHOGM 2024 will be finalized before the end of this year.
