Theresa May in New York: UK to build on Malta’s reform of commonwealth

The UK Prime Minister will take over the role of Chair-in-office of the organisation from Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat next March

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a Commonwealth event organised together with the UK in New York
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a Commonwealth event organised together with the UK in New York

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May has stressed the need for all the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations to work together to continue making progress on reforms needed for the organisation to address “main challenges like free trade, climate change and new security issues.”

May said that the organisation must remain relevant to the aspirations of its citizens, especially those of a younger age, and as a result, “youths would be at the heart of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in England next year.

“Malta started this important reform process. The UK is determined to move it forward for the long years to come,” said May, who was speaking at a joint event where May and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat explained their vision for the organisation.   

Any reform, she said, could not be the result of only one summit, but must be the result of efforts sustained over the course of many years.

Muscat who is currently the Chair-in-office of the organisation and who will be handing over the post to May, next March, said that in recent years, the significance of the commonwealth had grown significantly as a result of an all-round effort.

He stressed that politicians were only the end of the chain that had led to results and it was people and communities that had made the real difference.

The Prime Minister explained how the past two years were “characterised by activism, especially on the part of youths, who he said had strived for positive change”.

He mentioned, as an example, “the fight, especially among Commonwealth countries, to make Polio the second disease in world’s history to be eliminated.

Muscat added that it seemed as though equality would be the basis of the United Kingdom’s leadership in the coming two years and praised what he said was “important aim” that ought to result in more rights to more people, while also further attacking discrimination.