President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja on Thursday for Malta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which begins on Friday.
The Commonwealth is made up of Britain, Nigeria and 51 other countries that work together to pursue common goals and promote development, democracy, peace, security and good governance.
President Buhari and other Heads of State and Government, who will be in the Island nation for this year’s summit, are expected to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth initiatives on development and climate change with a view to adding greater value to ongoing global efforts in these areas.
At the summit, a new Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, who will take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, will be announced.
It will also feature the presentation of a progress report on the eradication of polio.
The Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will formally declare the summit open and host a banquet in honour of President Buhari and other participating Heads of State and Government.
UN Conference On Climate Change
At the end of the three-day event on Sunday, President Buhari will leave Malta for Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French Capital on Monday, November 30.
In a statement, the President’s spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, said President Buhari would join over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders Event on the opening day of the conference which would be hosted by President Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon.
“President Buhari will also participate in a summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic which has been scheduled to take place on December 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change,” the statement read.
Deliberations at the Paris meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic will focus mainly on the war against Boko Haram and other security issues of common interest to participating countries.
President Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed and the National Security Adviser, Major Geneneral Babagana Monguno (rtd.).
The meeting in France is coming weeks after attacks in Paris, which the Islamic State said it carried out, left 130 persons dead.
