Patricia Scotland, the Commonwealth Secretary General, has praised Cyprus for the leadership role that it has taken, benefiting the whole of the Commonwealth in leading the road to the Samoa heads of government meeting, with the hosting of the first ever Commonwealth ocean Ministers meeting.

Speaking in Larnaca on Wednesday, after visiting the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI) accompanied by  the Shipping Deputy Minister to the President, Marina Hadjimanolis, she said it is “an honour and a privilege for me be here with you. Cyprus has been a pivotal partner for us, particularly in relation to the climate change issues as they relate to small island developing states”.

On her part, Hadjimanolis said that “we are very pleased that on Friday we will be signing an MoU for the creation of the First Centre of Excellence of the Commonwealth which will be hosted here at the premises of CMMI."

Scotland said out of the 56 countries of the Commonwealth, 33 are small states and 25 are island states.

“And the importance of the ocean cannot be overemphasized 49 of our 56 countries are ocean states and 95% of our world is blue ocean, so the leadership  role that Cyprus has taken is really valued and important for the whole of the Commonwealth,” she remarked.

Noting the 2.5 billion people of the Commonwealth are thanking Cyprus, she said “this is the first ever Commonwealth ocean Ministers meeting, it is the inaugural meeting and it was Cyprus who came with us, along with the other representatives of our five regions at the UN first oceans meeting where we decided we would have a blue charter. So for this leadership that Cyprus has taken, I really want to thank all Cypriots and I want to thank you and the Minister and your President for leading the road to Samoa, where we will have our Heads of Government meeting,” she added.

On Friday, the Commonwealth Ministers responsible for ocean affairs will meet to establish the principles, priorities and actions for a Commonwealth Ocean Declaration, and to agree a roadmap which will pave the way for adoption of the declaration at CHOGM 2024 in Samoa.

“This centre of excellence which I hope we will be able to launch together on Friday”, said Scotland, “is a very important step forward, it is pivotal that we really understand the science involved in how we manage our oceans”.

She said Cyprus is already leading the action group on aqua culture and 80% of the fish is produced here to the real betterment of the Cypriot people, but also those who are willing to share.

“But the knowledge and expertise is critical if we are to preserve our ocean. It is also critical if we are not to make the mistakes in our ocean that we have already made on the land. So this centre which will drive forward the knowledge, the science, the expertise, is going to be of really vital importance to all of us”, she added.

She also thanked the Minister of Innovation and Digitalisation “because this whole area is going to be improved by a better understanding of the data and using the digital forms, the new AI that’s available to us, will help us to really bridge the gap that we have to bridge if we are going to deliver changes to our people”.

On her part, Hadjimanolis welcomed Scotland at the the premises of the CMMI, noting it is “an honour for Cyprus to host from tomorrow the first ministerial meeting of the Commonwealth for the Oceans and we are happy we will be having 40 countries that are participating with their Ministers and their officials, and we will have the chance to discuss important issues about the safety of the oceans”.

She also said “we are very pleased that on Friday we will be signing an MoU for the creation of the First Centre of Excellence of the Commonwealth which will be hosted here at the premises of CMMI and we are looking forward for tomorrow, and we are sure that it will be very, very helpful and the decisions we will be able to have, the head of states will be able to lead the road to Samoa for everything to be dealt”.