Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has picked leaders’ discussions with youth representatives as one of her highlights attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda.

Speaking at a joint press conference on Sunday to conclude the CHOGM 2022 in the Rwanda capital Kigali, Fiame when asked what were the main takeaways from her attendance, said an intergenerational discourse that the leaders had with Commonwealth youth representatives was one of her highlights.

“We had an intergenerational discourse this morning [Sunday] with representatives from the leaders and the youth delegates to the Youth Forum,” the Prime Minister said.  

“And there were two things that I came away with from that meeting and I think and I think it applies to the whole CHOGM experience and this is with respect to development. 

“The first thing is the ‘whole of society approach’ because quite often this isn’t a body of governments, but what has become very clear is that it is not enough to just have governments to determine the development program and objectives.”

The Prime Minister said the journey of development has to be a ‘whole of society’ in order to arrive at a destination that the nation wants to get to. 

“It has to be a whole of society to carry us through if we want to reach the goals that we’ve set. 

“One of the clear messages that came through, especially from the youth delegates is the idea of the opportunity that we now have at this juncture, especially with COVID and climate change and the impacts that it has had globally.”

Fiame told the press conference that there is an opportunity to “reimagine our futures” and it can start in sectors such as education or be framed around financing for Small Island States.

“Coming to Rwanda, I think it’s a very reaffirming experience, at least for myself, you know in terms of the roles and functions that leaders can provide for countries,” she added.

“And you know no leader does anything by themselves, but leadership is also being able to take people along with you and I think Rwanda has been an excellent example of that through the leadership of President Kagame.”

Her attendance at the CHOGM 2022 in Rwanda was her first as a head of Government, though she has previously attended CHOGM 1997 in Edinburgh, Scotland in the United Kingdom and CHOGM 2011 in Perth, Western Australia.