Commonwealth Day
9 March 2009
This year we celebrate at once Commonwealth Day as well as the 60th
anniversary of the birth of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Throughout these sixty years the Commonwealth has provided platforms and
fora to affirm our common values and goals which include promoting democracy,
human rights, good governance, multilateralism and world peace.
Although many of these goals have been achieved with various degrees of
success, much more still needs to be done to improve the conditions of many
people within the framework of the Singapore Declaration.
At the moment many countries face a debilitating financial crisis that
threatens not only to undo whatever economic progress has been achieved thus
far but further to sink the developing world into conditions of poverty,
hunger, diseases ignorance and homelessness.
Based on the chosen theme for this year, âthe commonwealth@60 â serving a new generationâ we are
confident that as the Commonwealth of Nations, we will do all we can, not only
to mitigate the effects of this global crisis but turn it into a stable and
prosperous future.
Our common humanity places on us the imperative to work in unity with the
single purpose of saving posterity from the clutches of poverty and
under-development.
As a member state of this glorious organisation, South Africa is convinced
that our collective efforts in this regard will not fail and will therefore do
everything possible to contribute towards the achievement of our goals as an
organisation
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
9 March 2009.
