EXCLUSIVE: A conversation with Commonwealth Secretary-General on Progress of CHOGM 2022 Preparations

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00:00 In less than a month, Rwanda will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting,

00:08 Togam.

00:10 The meeting takes place following two years of postponement due to the pandemic's restrictions.

00:15 Participants of the meeting are expected to bring together a number of heads of state

00:19 and discuss a variety of issues, including the application of new countries seeking to

00:24 join the organisation.

00:26 Iggy Hay spoke with Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland on the preparations

00:31 of the meeting.

00:32 She also hinted at deals that are likely to be signed and two new member countries that

00:36 might be admitted, amongst others.

00:39 Well, I think you should watch out.

00:42 There'll be a lot of excitement.

00:44 I hope, I hope we might see one or two new members in Kigali.

00:51 I have to say how delighted I am to be here in Rwanda for this 12th conference of the

00:59 anti-corruption agencies.

01:02 The Commonwealth has been working assiduously on this issue of corruption because, as you

01:08 probably know, the difference between the money we have and the money we need to deliver

01:13 on the sustainable development goals, the difference between those two figures is the

01:19 sum equivalent to that which is siphoned off by corruption and bribery globally.

01:25 So the Commonwealth has been totally focused on how do we interdict those illicit flows

01:32 and how do we send them back to where they're needed, which is our countries.

01:37 And this is really so important because if you think about corruption, it's not a victimless

01:43 crime.

01:44 It's the money we need to build roads.

01:46 It's the money we need to build schools and hospitals and send our children to school

01:51 and feed our children properly.

01:54 And Rwanda has been extraordinary in its commitment to eradicate anti-corruption.

02:02 I think the President, the Right Honourable President Paul Kagame has made it clear that

02:09 one of the best ways is to use the technology.

02:13 So if you think about how you have turned Rwanda into the smart country of Africa with

02:21 e-commerce and e-governance and procurement, all of that is online.

02:26 It makes it so much more difficult for people to siphon off money.

02:32 And so we across the Commonwealth have been working trenchantly together to discover what

02:38 works, what doesn't work, how can we implement these things.

02:42 So we're using blockchain.

02:44 And what is remarkable is if you look at the countries of the Commonwealth, we have 19

02:51 countries in the Commonwealth from Africa.

02:55 Those countries are at the top or in the middle of the Mo Ibrahim Index for Good Governance

03:02 and we have none of our countries in the list of the most corrupt.

03:06 So we are working hard.

03:09 And I'm very proud that this year the 12th Conference is coming here to Rwanda and we've

03:16 had His Excellency Paul Kagame's total commitment, but the Prime Minister came to join us.

03:24 And so it was a very special morning.

03:26 And in the next four days, all the heads of the integrity commissions and the anti-corruption

03:33 agencies are going to be here in Rwanda.

03:36 And they're going to be plotting and planning and working to make sure we give those crooks

03:43 a run for their money.

03:44 They have an illicit conspiracy, but we have a conspiracy of the just.

03:49 And we're going to be better than they.

03:52 So I was very proud to be the special guest speaker.

03:57 We know that out of Africa we've already lost more than a trillion dollars.

04:03 Now that money doesn't stay in Africa.

04:06 It goes out of Africa.

04:07 But we need to get the money back.

04:09 So we're looking at asset recovery.

04:11 What do we do?

04:12 How we share information.

04:13 What works?

04:14 But we're also keen to understand what has not worked.

04:18 So we can stop doing the ineffective things and we can work together to make bribery and

04:25 corruption history.

04:26 And we're really determined.

04:30 We are.

04:31 And in 2016, when I became Secretary General, one of the very first things I did was to

04:38 have a global anti-corruption conference where we brought all of our countries in the Commonwealth

04:46 to say, what do we do?

04:47 How can we do it?

04:48 And as a result, we promised that we would set about creating the methodologies which

04:55 would be the difference.

04:56 And we now have the anti-Commonwealth, anti-corruption benchmarks, which doesn't just look at corruption

05:05 in public sector, but also looks at how we can assist the public and private sector to

05:12 work together and the private sector to interdict this level of corruption.

05:18 Can we do it without commitment from political commitment?

05:22 No.

05:23 Can we do it without the commitment of the private sector and public sector?

05:27 No.

05:28 Can we do it without the commitment of people, individuals like you and me?

05:32 No.

05:33 But can we do it together?

05:35 Absolutely yes.

05:37 And when we've come together, you've already seen the difference that we're making.

05:43 We're getting more money back now than ever before.

05:47 When President Buhari attended the conference in 2016 and people said to him, do you want

05:55 an apology?

05:56 He said, no, I don't want an apology.

05:58 I want everyone who has taken this illicit money out of my country to give it back.

06:05 And so these benchmarks are our attempt to make sure those assets come back to Africa.

06:13 And when they come back, we will build the roads, the schools, the infrastructure, the

06:17 hospitals, and we will feed and educate our children from the money that people have stolen

06:23 from us.

06:24 And I believe if we work together, we can do it.

06:29 Not on our own, because I think once it was said in the women's conference in Malta, it

06:34 said on our own, we are invisible.

06:37 But together, we are invincible.

06:41 So that's what they're doing right here in Rwanda.

06:44 All the agencies, they're coming together, they're plotting, they're planning.

06:50 And I know they're going to give those crooks, as I said earlier, a run for their money.

06:55 And I'm determined we're going to win.

07:01 Oh, I am so impressed by the preparations.

07:08 You remember that I came before most of the buildings were built.

07:14 So I saw people laying down the foundation stones and the buildings.

07:20 They're now beautiful.

07:23 It's unfortunate that Rwanda has had to be ready on three occasions, ready in 2020, ready

07:30 in 2021, and now ready in 2022.

07:34 But what a marvelous contribution.

07:38 Everyone is looking forward to coming to Kigali.

07:42 And people are talking about Kigali as the jewel of Africa.

07:47 This is the first time that Africa has hosted CHOGM since the Ugandans hosted CHOGM more

07:56 than 10, 15 years ago.

08:00 So this is a special moment.

08:02 We have the African continental free trade area.

08:05 We have all of the innovations that are coming.

08:09 And this is a real opportunity to celebrate the Commonwealth, but also celebrate Commonwealth

08:14 Africa.

08:20 We have a large number who have already confirmed, but you know, every day we get more and more

08:27 and more.

08:28 So we are hoping that as many who are able to come out of the 54 leaders will be with

08:36 us.

08:37 And we know that some are having elections and some still have closed borders because

08:41 of COVID.

08:42 But we are hoping and expecting a really good attendance.

08:49 And I know from speaking to all of our leaders, they all want to be here.

08:53 So if anyone doesn't turn up, it won't be because they don't want to come, probably

08:57 because they can't, but they're keeping all our fingers crossed.

09:02 Well, I think one of the things we're concentrating on is not just deals from that meeting, but

09:12 how can we build the trade and investment flows throughout the Commonwealth?

09:18 I think the 700 million you're talking about is the 700 billion of intra-Commonwealth trade

09:25 there currently is.

09:26 So at the moment, it is, you've got 20% more trade coming between Commonwealth countries

09:35 and it's 21% faster, easier for us to trade with each other.

09:40 So the big question for us is how do we convert that Commonwealth advantage, which we talk

09:46 about into real benefit?

09:50 We have grown the trade between our Commonwealth countries.

09:54 So it's now, in spite of COVID, looks as if it's going to be back up to 700 billion.

10:03 But we would like by 2030 to have 1 trillion trade between our Commonwealth countries.

10:12 But for Commonwealth Africa, there's a real opportunity because of course, most African

10:17 countries have now signed the African Continental Free Trade Area.

10:23 And look at what's just happened for East Africa.

10:27 The Democratic Republic of the Congo has joined the East African community.

10:32 That means East Africa has gone from a market of just about 100 billion to over 200 billion.

10:41 So these opportunities, if we get our modalities right, and the things we're doing in the Commonwealth

10:47 is we're looking at creating templates for legislation, for regulation, contracts and

10:56 agreements.

10:57 So we are really hoping that at this trade conference that we have on the margins, the

11:05 forum on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, we will see real business

11:12 being done.

11:13 I know that there's some good surprises coming, but I don't think I should say them because

11:17 that will spoil things.

11:19 But I think there's going to be some really good, good things happening.

11:30 Well three countries are in the process of applying to join our Commonwealth, which is

11:36 a real sign about how healthy we are.

11:40 It's so many countries, some of whom have never been part of the Commonwealth family,

11:45 indeed like Rwanda and Mozambique and Cameroon.

11:49 Yet they've seen the excitement and the importance and they want to join.

11:54 So three countries are in the process of applying to join the Commonwealth and we are hopeful

12:02 that one or two may be able to complete the process before June.

12:10 And if that happens, they will be with us in Kigali.

12:17 Well I think you should watch out, there'll be a lot of excitement.

12:22 I hope, I hope we might see one or two new members in Kigali.

12:31 Well, we will firstly count it a success that all of us can come together in one place because

12:44 this opportunity to just meet has been something that many of our members have been longing

12:51 for, thirsting for.

12:53 The last two years has been really tough for everyone.

12:58 If you think about how many people have died, we've lost probably about a billion people,

13:03 well actually it's a million people across our Commonwealth.

13:09 That's been painful and difficult.

13:11 It's affected our trade, it's been difficult at times of climate change.

13:16 So coming together is one big opportunity.

13:20 It will probably be the first face-to-face global meeting of leaders that we've had in

13:27 the last two years, which is not hybrid, totally face-to-face.

13:32 But if you think about the things we've set ourselves, the things on innovation, on young

13:37 people, on climate change, on digitalisation, on technological development, on creating

13:43 a smarter Commonwealth to better respond to our citizens.

13:50 The fact that we are aspiring to take those additional steps for the 2030 agenda on sustainable

13:58 development, the SDGs.

14:01 These are clear targets that we hope we will do together.

14:05 The blue and the green economy.

14:08 We have to build back better.

14:10 We have to respond to the terrible tragedy that we've seen.

14:14 If you look at our climate change, you know how many countries have suffered during this

14:20 period.

14:21 If you look at COVID, you can see, and I think both myself and Tedros talked about the fact

14:28 we've all been in the same storm, but we have not been in the same boat.

14:35 Still in Africa, some of our countries have less than 10% vaccination, like Sierra Leone.

14:42 And yet in other parts of the world, you have countries with 95% vaccination, not just one

14:49 vaccination, but three.

14:52 So we will be looking at the health issues that have come out.

14:56 We will be talking about how we can recover and how we can do that together.

15:02 So I will see it as a real success if we are able to make significant steps forward and

15:11 agreement in terms of how we innovate, how do we create a greater ecosystem for development

15:19 and how do we make sure that we are able to respond better if we are hit with another

15:26 pandemic.

15:27 This was the first pandemic in 100 years, but I'm afraid a lot of people are having

15:34 to come to terms with the fact it might not be our last pandemic.

15:40 So we're hoping that when our leaders come together, they will be able to learn from

15:45 the last terrible two years how we can better respond because we have responded.

15:52 In many ways, we did brilliantly.

15:55 In many ways, we became more innovative, more creative because we had to.

16:01 If you think about what we've done on e-commerce, what we've done in relation to having virtual

16:08 meetings, we went in the secretariat from having all face-to-face meetings to all virtual

16:16 meetings like that by a switch of a button.

16:20 And we ended up having thousands of meetings on a virtual platform.

16:26 We've never done that before.

16:27 The world is materially different and I think we're moving into a hybrid, technologically

16:34 engineered world and a digitalized world.

16:37 So we're going to have to help all of us to make that leap across the digital divide so

16:44 we don't leave people behind.

16:45 I know that many of our countries are suffering now because they don't have internet connectivity

16:51 and they haven't got the technological benefits they need to be the difference they need to

16:58 make for their people.

17:00 So all of those issues are going to be addressed by our leaders very, very seriously.

17:05 And if we're able to come up with a plan to deliver that, that will be a great success.

17:11 And of course if we're joined by new members, that would be a success too.

17:16 Well, you know, the world has been shocked and pained by what has happened in Ukraine

17:30 just because of the loss and the tragedy of life.

17:33 And you know, the Commonwealth is totally committed to the rule of law, to good governance,

17:40 to peace.

17:41 And we are supporting all of those who are working for peace in Ukraine.

17:47 But there are political, economic consequences.

17:51 If you look at the disruption for oil and gas, the food security issues, they are going

17:57 to have an impact.

18:00 Some are saying that we therefore have to face up to the fact that we've got to look

18:06 more carefully at our food security.

18:10 How do we increase the productivity within Africa, for example?

18:17 Because some of our countries export everything they grow and import everything they eat.

18:28 So this trauma that's coming now is helping us to look again.

18:34 How do we make sure that the regions are able to feed their own people?

18:39 How do we make sure that we enhance our agri-business?

18:43 How do we use technology to make us more secure in every sense?

18:48 More politically secure, more economically secure, more physically secure, more technologically

18:57 secure.

18:58 So those issues, I think, have been brought into sharp focus.

19:04 We're used to having one problem to deal with.

19:07 Now we have insecurity, which is global.

19:11 We have climate change, which is hugely disruptive and poses an existential threat to many of

19:18 our countries.

19:20 We have economic difficulties, which comes from the interaction of all those three.

19:26 And we have a growing population in our Commonwealth, for example, which is young.

19:32 60% of our Commonwealth is under the age of 30.

19:37 So we have to look at how do we look after our children, our young people?

19:41 How do we make sure they have aspiration and inspiration and opportunity?

19:46 How do we cull from their talent the things that we know we need for the future?

19:54 I am optimistic because when I come to Rwanda and I see the wonderful young people, when

20:02 I go to all the other African countries and the Commonwealth, the young people of the

20:07 Commonwealth are so inspirational.

20:10 They are so creative, so innovative.

20:15 And I look at all the SMEs, the startups that are coming.

20:21 And if you think about the most successful companies in the world, many of them were

20:26 created within the last 20 years.

20:29 Some of them within the last 10 years.

20:32 Think about people like Alibaba, just from nowhere.

20:35 So we know we have that innovative potential and we have to create the ecosystem which

20:41 will enable us to enable our young people to take advantage.

20:46 Because if we don't do that, if our young people become hopeless and not hopeful, if

20:53 they aren't educated and given the opportunities, then we are creating a problem where we won't

21:02 be able to deliver for them.

21:05 And I know all of us and all of the leaders in the Commonwealth are focused on making

21:10 sure that does not happen.

21:12 So we are going to focus on our young people, dig deep, and I am confident if we work together,

21:19 we'll come up with the solutions.

21:27 I love the spirit of this country.

21:33 When I first got off an aeroplane and I set foot in Rwanda, I couldn't believe what

21:41 I saw.

21:42 This was a dynamic, young, vibrant, clean country.

21:50 And I started, I have to tell you, a task.

21:53 I call it hunt the piece of paper because this is the most immaculate country I have

21:59 ever seen.

22:00 And only on one occasion did I see one piece of paper on the pavement and then within,

22:08 and I thought, yes, I've seen a piece of paper, then someone came and picked it up.

22:12 So it was gone.

22:14 So I'm so impressed by how green the country is, how beautiful it is.

22:20 And you'll know that I was privileged to go and see the gorillas.

22:25 And we had the naming ceremony and I was allowed to name my own gorilla.

22:32 My gorilla is called Nazirian and that's because when I went to Nangong in Kenya, the

22:40 Maasai named me Nazirian, which is called the peaceful one.

22:46 So apparently my gorilla is probably one of the naughtiest gorillas, the young gorillas,

22:51 but he is now called Nazirian.

22:56 So the warmth of the people is what I will remember.

23:02 And I'm afraid you have some beautiful designs, which really tempt me.

23:07 And so I'm sure that when I go back, I'll probably go back with a couple of more of

23:14 your wonderful dresses.

23:18 So maybe we'll put that in the film.

23:24 London has so much to be proud of.

23:28 And also I will never forget going to the lighting ceremony when we were commemorating

23:36 and remembering all of those who died and all the families that were lost during the

23:44 genocide.

23:45 I think I will never forget that night.

23:49 It wounded my heart to see the pain that was suffered by this country.

23:55 And then it delighted my heart to see how out of all that horror has risen one people,

24:05 one people, beautiful, together, creating an extraordinary country.

24:12 I think Rwanda has so much to be proud of.

24:16 And every time I come, it seems somehow to have been made more beautiful.

24:21 I'm not quite sure how you've done it, but I think you need to share the recipe with

24:26 other people because it's really good.

24:29 [MUSIC]

24:31 (whooshing)

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