Commonwealth centre to be set up in Malta to help small states

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced on Wednesday evening that a Centre of Excellence is being set up in Malta to serve as a focal point to help the 31 Commonwealth small states including combating climate change.

Addressing a press conference held at Media Centre in St Julian's ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth heads of government meeting, the prime minister explained the centre is a joint initiative between Malta and the Commonwealth Secretariat and that Malta will be contributing 100,000 euros to it as seed capital.

Muscat elaborated the new centre will offer tailor-made programmes to assist small states through online resources and referral services.

Assistance would be given in areas such as debt management, management of public finances, e-government projects, management of natural disasters, training of civil servants and diplomats, promotion of women's rights and trade promotion.

Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, underlined that it was a moment to show the whole world that outcomes in global discourse had to be equal for everyone and equity should be at the heart of international relations.

The theme of the summit will be Adding Global Value and there would be particular focus on climate change ahead of the summit in the coming days in French capital city of Paris. Endit