Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting

The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Samoa, Hon. Fiame Naomi Mataafa,
contributed to the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting (CFAMM) held early morning
on 17 September 2021 Samoa time (16 September 2021, 1200 to 1600hrs BST). This is the second
consecutive year the CFAMM has been held virtually since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The meeting was chaired by the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom. During the meeting, the Ministers
heard a report from the Commonwealth Secretary-General on the implementation of the key mandates
from the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting. This was followed by
interventions by the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers on trade and economic recovery,
health and vaccine equity; climate change and the upcoming Twenty-Sixth Conference of the Parties
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow.
The Prime Minister of Samoa highlighted the impacts and challenges due to the pandemic and
welcomed support from the Commonwealth Secretariat on trade and economic recovery particularly
in the revival of the tourism sector and ensuring sustainable financing for recovery. Samoa shared its
vaccination rollout efforts for COVID-19 and that it remains focused on health priorities such as
strengthening health systems, Universal Health Care coverage and investing in digital technology.
The Prime Minister also used the opportunity to call on the continued leadership of the
Commonwealth members in providing and calling for ambitious climate action. She stressed that
small islands developing states count on a united approach from the Commonwealth to encourage all
countries especially the major emitters, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the
century and keeping the 1.5 degrees promise within reach.
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Samoa joined the Commonwealth in 1970. There are 54 member states of the Commonwealth from
Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. 32 of the Commonwealth’s members are small
states.