An opening reception this evening at 7pm will kick off the proceedings of the Commonwealth Ocean Ministers Meeting on the theme “Our Resilient Common Ocean: from Cyprus to Samoa”, which will take place tomorrow Friday 19 April in Kouklia, Paphos.
The reception will include addresses and speeches by the Minister of Agriculture Maria Panayiotou and the Deputy Minister of Shipping Marina Hadjimanolis, while a preparatory meeting of senior officials of the Commonwealth States is also planned in view of tomorrow’s proceedings.
According to the organisers, Commonwealth Ministers responsible for oceans will meet to set the principles, priorities and actions for a Commonwealth Declaration on Oceans and agree on a roadmap that will pave the way for the adoption of the Declaration at CHOGM 2024 in Samoa.
One-fifth of all maritime trade and one-fifth of seaports are within the Commonwealth. A total of 49 of the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries border the ocean and are home to 47% of the world’s coral reefs and 34%
of its mangrove forests. One third of the world’s marine waters are under national jurisdiction. A total of 25 of the 33 small Commonwealth states are small island developing states (SIDS) or “large ocean states”, ie two-thirds globally.
Source: Cyprus News Agency