India
PM Narendra Modi to Join 52 World Leaders at CHOGM in UK Today
At the special invitation extended by Prince Charles, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first PM to attend the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) event after nine years. The CHOGM was held at Buckingham Palace in London on Thursday, and the Thursday meetings were focused on the agenda of the summit. Today, they will head to Windsor for a retreat informal interactions.
While inaugurating the summit, Queen Elizabeth II requested the leaders to appoint her son, Prince Charles, as Commonwealth head. She also stressed that the modern Commonwealth has an important role to play in joining the countries and also creating a secure world. Earlier, UK and India signed multiple agreements and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi also used the CHOGM 2018 event as an opportunity to conduct 12 mutual interactions with the Government heads. He met his Gambian Counterpart Adama Barrow and Mauritius President Pravind Jugnauth. Then, he shared pleasantries with the President of Seychelles, Danny Faure and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley.
While attending the event, he also met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and it is their first meeting since last year. Narendra Modi also had a one-on discussion with the Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Michael Holness.
The Queen, who would be celebrating her 92nd birthday on Saturday, stated that “Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations.” For past many years, there has been a debate to appoint a non-royal person to lead the grouping to distance it from the colonial roots. But, others also claim that the royal family holds the grouping of former British colonies together. The chairman of CWEIC (Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council), Lord Marland stated that the Commonwealth is still existed only because of Queen and the royal family.
The leader will be chosen collectively by the heads of 53 Governments of the commonwealth. On Friday, selecting the head is expected to be the central feature of deliberations when the leaders get together for CHOGM leaders retreat at the grand Waterloo Chamber of Windsor Castle.
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