Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja on Nov. 26 for Malta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
This information is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.
The meeting begins in the island nation 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.
According to the statement, Buhari and other Heads of State and Government 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.
“A new Secretary-General of the Commonwealth who will take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, will be announced at the summit which will also feature the presentation of a progress report on the eradication of polio’’, the statement said.
It stated that the Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, would formally declare the summit open and host a banquet in honour of President Buhari and other participating Heads of State and Government.
It said that at the conclusion of the Summit on Sunday, Buhari will leave Malta for Paris where he would present Nigeria’s statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French capital on Nov. 30.
Adesina stated that the President would be joining over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders Event on the opening day of the conference.
The conference will be hosted by President Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon.
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Buhari will also participate in a summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic.
It will take place on Dec. 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the UN conference on Climate Change.
“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’’, the statement said.
It said Buhari would 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, retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno. (NAN)
