The city of Angola, Luanda, hosted the penultimate summit of the 79-member Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States on Friday.
It’s the tenth heads of state summit that the OACPS has held and the first of three that Angola will hold as the rotating presidency.
The theme for this year’s meeting is titled “Three Continents, Three Oceans, a Common Destiny: Building a Resilient and Sustainable OACPS.”
Angola decided that it should focus on the pressing issues of climate change and good governance, including combatting corruption.
For the Maldives climate change is a threat to its very existence.
According to the World Bank, with “future sea levels projected to increase in the range of 10 to 100 centimetres by the year 2100, the entire country could be submerged”.
“Most of the existential dangers faced by our communities are driven by climate change,” says Dhumya from Maldives.
Her country could disappear by the end of the century. Today…we must prepare for the disasters of tomorrow. #ForEveryChild https://t.co/vLjhTFnLCP pic.twitter.com/3ny7V2o3Vr
— UNICEF South Asia (@UNICEFROSA) December 10, 2022
The island state joined the OACPS only this year but is desperate to gain international support to counter the threat.
The President of the European Union Charles Michel and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were also expected to attend the summit.
It’s due to end on Saturday with all the heads of state expecting to sign a summit declaration.
Source: Africa News