6 key announcements from CHOGM

Last week the UK hosted Commonwealth nation heads of state and government for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

CHOGM’s theme this year was “Towards a Common Future” [PDF], with discussion focused on how the Commonwealth can contribute to a fairer, more sustainable, more secure and more prosperous future.

Throughout the week a variety of events, summits and announcements took place, hosted by governments, businesses and civil society. The UK government made a number of announcements at CHOGM – we’ve rounded up six important ones for the international development sector. They include:

Tackling malaria

The UK government co-hosted the Malaria Summit with the governments of Rwanda and Swaziland, calling on a commitment from heads of governments to halve malaria in the next five years. The UK reaffirmed a commitment of £500 million a year towards tackling malaria until 2020-21, including £100 million for the Global Fund to be match funded by the private sector.

Supporting girls

The UK pledged £212 million of overseas aid to allow almost one million more girls in the Commonwealth to attend school, with a focus on ensuring young people can access 12 years of quality education. Penny Mordaunt reaffirmed this pledge at Global Citizen Live.

Eliminating blindness

Penny Mordaunt pledged an extra £20 million to eliminate trachoma, providing sight-saving antibiotics and surgery in 10 Commonwealth countries.

Trade

Liam Fox and Penny Mordaunt jointly announced a package of programmes for trade across borders between Commonwealth countries, with the aim of creating jobs to lift people out of poverty. Up to ¬£1.5 billion worth of contracts will be signed between UK and Commonwealth countries. Additionally, the Prime Minister announced the “SheTrades” initiative, helping countries break down gender barriers in international trade.

Disaster reduction

Penny Mordaunt also announced a support package to help Caribbean countries prepare for future disasters through innovative finance products, to speed up the recovery of businesses and critical services including hospitals and schools.

Tackling plastic waste

The government announced £61 million to tackle plastic waste, including matching public donations through UK Aid Match up to £5 million.

You can see more of the announcements made during the week on DFID’s website.

Congratulations to all our members involved in CHOGM 2018.