President Mahama Addresses Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting

President John Dramani Mahama has called for the cooperation of members states of the Commonwealth to protect and defend the values of good governance and democracy.

Speaking at the concluding news conference of the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Valletta, Malta Sunday, he said, “One thing we are taking away from the Conference is how we can increase cooperation to defend and protect the values of good governance and democracy we all cherish.”

Threats

The President said nations were living in an unpredictable world, with a lot of threats to their survival.

He mentioned terrorism, migration, corruption and climate change and some of the threats that needed to be confronted head on.

On terrorism, he said, Africa had an unpleasant share citing Boko Haram and Al-Shabab as some of the groups that continue to threaten lives and property.

He stressed the need for information sharing among countries to counter activities of extremists.

“We need to look at how we handle things currently,” the President said.

He also expressed satisfaction with discussions about how individual member nations should be in competition with each other to promote growth.

The panel for the press conference included the Prime Minister of Malta, Prime Minister of Barbados and the Commonwealth Secretary General.

The meeting

The three-day meeting on the theme '”Adding Global Value,” discussed a number of issues including sustainable development, climate change, peace and security, good governance, migration, and polio eradication among others.

While in Malta, President Mahama also participated in a meeting of the Small CHOGM Action Group on Anti-Corruption and held a number of bilateral meetings.