President Paul Kagame has said that Commonwealth countries need to continuously engage and find out what they can do to bring a balance to ensure that everyone in the 54-nation community feels included.
Kagame said this at the opening of the Commonwealth Business Forum on Tuesday, June 21, in Kigali, drawing more than 1,000 delegates.
The forum is one of the events taking place in the Rwandan capital as part of the 26th edition of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM).
"With the Commonwealth, we already have many things in common indeed. Be it the language, be it the different systems, financial systems, that would enable us to make investments, trade with each other all together," the Rwandan leader said during a panel discussion.
He said there is a starting point that is more or less good enough, but "we need to make it better."
"We need to keep making sure that when we talk about the Commonwealth, we actually mean the Commonwealth. Not just that being Common to a few of the many 54 countries. This is why I said, it keeps being a work in progress.
"We (have) to engage one another, finding out what we can do to bring that balance to the extent that everyone in the Commonwealth, the family of nations, feels they are part of it, no one is left behind."
"I think this is what we have to focus on. So that, even the small, developing nations feel they are not left behind, that we uplift everyone, we move towards what fulfills the obligation to the Commonwealth that we aspire to in this family of nations."
Whether it is trade and business, investments, or other issues such as health, Kagame said, "the pace at which things move needs to be increased, so that we give more value to the Commonwealth and the feelings of the people of the Commonwealth."
The Commonwealth Business Forum attracted government officials, investors, bankers, venture capitalists, business executives, among others.
Other delegates include champions of youth entrepreneurship from across the member states.
Participants are exploring a wide-range of areas, including financing future growth, trade and regional integration, and the future of work.
Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, said that while the economy of the Commonwealth is projected to grow to $13 trillion by 2026, it is largely concentrated in five countries, namely; the UK, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, and India.
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Adesina said a common future for Commonwealth nations must be about the future of the youth, adding that youth entrepreneurship investments are critical.
President Kagame said the youth need to be given space in decision-making at all levels.
"We should also be integrating, not just the young people but all of us. We have to make sure that we look at society as a complete thing and allow different players to do their part."
At least 60 per cent of the Commonwealth population is aged 29 and below.
Amali de Alwis, chief executive of Subak, a global non-profit tech accelerator dedicated to mitigating the climate crisis, underlined the need for the youth to be empowered with relevant skills. "We will train them to have the skills they need to be fit for the future. If we don't do that we are doing them a disservice."
Kagame is this week set to assume the role of Chair-In-Office of the Commonwealth from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has led the organisation since the last CHOGM in 2018. The Commonwealth is home to 2.5 billion people.
