Gabon:

On the 25 June 2022, when the news came that Gabon had been accepted into the Commonwealth, I had to sit down to take in the enormity of the moment.

I was in my office at our London Embassy in Elvaston Place. My mobile phone rang, and I was stood by the window when my colleagues in the Foreign Ministry confirmed the news. Luckily, my chair was located nearby as my legs suddenly become notably unsteady.

I welcomed this great news with full emotion and pride.

For Gabon, joining the Commonwealth is the culmination of a vision given by His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba first discussed almost a decade ago when I joined the Gabonese Embassy in London.

Through his instructions, it followed more than three years of hard work with all my Gabonese colleagues as we went through the rigorous entry steps required by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

On the 25 June 2022 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Kigali(Rwanda), I finally learnt that all our collective work was successful.

We had been accepted.

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC

Gabon’s President His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba

Based in London, I am always amazed by how people in Britain seem to take the Commonwealth for granted, viewing it solely through the prism of an old empire that many increasingly do not want to be reminded about.

The modern Commonwealth is far more than some imperial legacy project and seeing it as such does it a grave disservice. There is no organisation globally that is as equalitarian in giving a voice to developing and middle-income nations.

For African States, like Gabon, it not only provides a voice to lobby major donors and diplomatic partners, but also a framework to increase cooperation and resolve disputes between its members.

One only has to look at the role the Commonwealth played in isolating apartheid in South Africa and then, in the 1990s, campaigned for debt relief for some of the world’s poorest nations to see what it can achieve.

Within it, there are vibrant and hardworking entities, such as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, that deliver real cooperation.

Gabon President His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba with The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC

The modern Commonwealth is far more than some imperial legacy project and seeing it as such does it a grave disservice. There is no organisation globally that is as equalitarian in giving a voice to developing and middle-income nations.

Gabon President His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon High Commissioner Mrs Aichatou Sanni Aoudou and Maldives High Commissioner Dr Farah Faizal

FCDO Minister of State The Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith, Strategic Adviser to the Capital, Science & Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson Justin Mundy and The Rt Hon Sir Hugo Swire KCMG

Former Minister of State for Development in the FCDO, the Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP, Gabon President His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba with The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC

So it should be no surprise that a former French colony like Gabon wished to join its brothers and sisters, not only in Africa but globally, as a Commonwealth member.

Our request was motivated by a desire to diversify Gabon’s international partners. We want to strengthen exchange and cooperation with the whole Commonwealth family of nations that we are now so delighted to be part of.

We share the Commonwealth worldview for how the values and aspirations enshrined in the Charter can fortify our own democracy and enable Gabon to play a greater role for good internationally.

**Flag Raising Ceremony at Marlborough House**

**Flag Raising Ceremony at Marlborough House**

We believe that our membership will also support the Commonwealth to collectively improve the quality of life of its people and the resilience and prosperity of our nations.

In particular, we are eager to engage on key issues, such as equal rights for, and fighting violence against women, making the planet a better place for our youth, and promoting democracy, freedom of speech and expression, peace, and security around the world.

Former Minister of State for Development in the FCDO, the Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP, Gabon High Commissioner Mrs Aichatou Sanni Aoudou, Gabon President His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba and The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC

Our President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, declared after Gabon was formally admitted at the meeting in Kigali: “This is a historic moment! A new important page in the history of Gabon is opening 62 years after its independence.”

He also went on to highlight a key area where he believes we will be able to support our now fellow members. “Gabon's membership of the Commonwealth,” he said, “is recognition of the increasingly important role played by Gabon on the international scene, in particular on the issue of climate where our country is on the frontline.”

Our President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, declared after Gabon was formally admitted at the meeting in Kigali: “This is a historic moment! A new important page in the history of Gabon is opening 62 years after its independence.”

Gabon is the most carbon positive nation on the planet, with current CO2 emissions estimated at 100 million tonnes per annum, and the country was chosen by the other states in Africa to chair the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change at last year’s COP26 in Glasgow.

Sustainable forestry is a primary source of economic activity in the country, with Gabon being the largest exporter of processed wood in the region, but its forests are carefully managed to ensure this resource will remain intact for generations to come.

This has helped make Gabon become a green beacon. Indeed 88 per cent of the country is covered by canopies of lush tropical forest, which have an immense biodiversity with more plant species in them than in all West Africa’s forests combined.

We have also established a network of 13 national parks covering 11 per cent of the country’s landmass. These contain over 2,000 species of trees, and are home to around 75 per cent of the remaining forest elephants in the world.

Gabon is one of the few places left where forest elephants can roam from forest to sea – and indeed can be found by tourists happily strolling along the beach.

It is this knowledge that we believe will be key to what we can contribute to the Commonwealth as the whole planet grapples with the issues of the impact of climate change, loss of biodiversity and the challenges of sustainable development.

Over the last decade, however, Gabon’s government has driven an ambitious economic restructuring.

Gabon was previously economically dependent on oil and the extraction of raw materials. Since then, the economy has diversified to open up to other sectors, such as wood, finance, digital, agriculture and tourism.

Gabon Rainforest

Gabon has entered fully into this energy transition and into the creation of a green, sustainable economy that is both concerned with progress and respectful of man and nature.

The Sustainable Development Law passed in 2014 enshrines the right to sustainable development for the Gabonese people and laid the foundation for the development of carbon, biodiversity and human capital credits.

The Climate Law passed in 2021 ensures continuing carbon sequestration for the coming decades, providing a crucial international service.

The legal protection of 26 per cent of marine waters enacted in 2018 also ensures the protection of significant populations of marine mammals, helps secure artisan fishery livelihoods and formalised a revenue stream of approximately $6 million from sustainable pelagic tuna fisheries.

Gabon’s waters are home to the world’s largest nesting population of leatherback sea turtles who come ashore to lay eggs in the sand of our beaches, and its waters each year fill with whales that travel there to raise their young.

Joining the Commonwealth provides an opportunity to work with other partners in driving this transition that we have undertaken not only in our homeland but now also in support of our new fellow Commonwealth countries.

We believe that through being part of the Commonwealth we can contribute more to making ours a greener, healthier and more sustainable world.

In two years time, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Samoa, which like all maritime nations knows only too well the impact climate change threatens.

Gabon will be there for the first time as a full Commonwealth member. It will be a proud day not only for me but all Gabonese as we know that we will be present as a voice for the development of Africa, of former colonial states everywhere, and for the long-term protection of this planet that is all of our home.

Gabon:

The 55^th Member of
the Commonwealth

On the 25 June 2022, when the news came that Gabon had been accepted into the Commonwealth, I had to sit down to take in the enormity of the moment.

I was in my office at our London Embassy in Elvaston Place. My mobile phone rang, and I was stood by the window when my colleagues in the Foreign Ministry confirmed the news. Luckily, my chair was located nearby as my legs suddenly become notably unsteady.

I welcomed this great news with full emotion and pride.

For Gabon, joining the Commonwealth is the culmination of a vision given by His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba first discussed almost a decade ago when I joined the Gabonese Embassy in London.

Through his instructions, it followed more than three years of hard work with all my Gabonese colleagues as we went through the rigorous entry steps required by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

On the 25 June 2022 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Kigali(Rwanda), I finally learnt that all our collective work was successful.

We had been accepted.

Based in London, I am always amazed by how people in Britain seem to take the Commonwealth for granted, viewing it solely through the prism of an old empire that many increasingly do not want to be reminded about.

The modern Commonwealth is far more than some imperial legacy project and seeing it as such does it a grave disservice. There is no organisation globally that is as equalitarian in giving a voice to developing and middle-income nations.

For African States, like Gabon, it not only provides a voice to lobby major donors and diplomatic partners, but also a framework to increase cooperation and resolve disputes between its members.

One only has to look at the role the Commonwealth played in isolating apartheid in South Africa and then, in the 1990s, campaigned for debt relief for some of the world’s poorest nations to see what it can achieve.

Within it, there are vibrant and hardworking entities, such as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, that deliver real cooperation.

The modern Commonwealth is far more than some imperial legacy project and seeing it as such does it a grave disservice. There is no organisation globally that is as equalitarian in giving a voice to developing and middle-income nations.

So it should be no surprise that a former French colony like Gabon wished to join its brothers and sisters, not only in Africa but globally, as a Commonwealth member.

Our request was motivated by a desire to diversify Gabon’s international partners. We want to strengthen exchange and cooperation with the whole Commonwealth family of nations that we are now so delighted to be part of.

We share the Commonwealth worldview for how the values and aspirations enshrined in the Charter can fortify our own democracy and enable Gabon to play a greater role for good internationally.

We believe that our membership will also support the Commonwealth to collectively improve the quality of life of its people and the resilience and prosperity of our nations.

In particular, we are eager to engage on key issues, such as equal rights for, and fighting violence against women, making the planet a better place for our youth, and promoting democracy, freedom of speech and expression, peace, and security around the world.

Our President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, declared after Gabon was formally admitted at the meeting in Kigali: “This is a historic moment! A new important page in the history of Gabon is opening 62 years after its independence.”

Our President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, declared after Gabon was formally admitted at the meeting in Kigali: “This is a historic moment! A new important page in the history of Gabon is opening 62 years after its independence.”

Gabon is the most carbon positive nation on the planet, with current CO2 emissions estimated at 100 million tonnes per annum, and the country was chosen by the other states in Africa to chair the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change at last year’s COP26 in Glasgow.

Sustainable forestry is a primary source of economic activity in the country, with Gabon being the largest exporter of processed wood in the region, but its forests are carefully managed to ensure this resource will remain intact for generations to come.

This has helped make Gabon become a green beacon. Indeed 88 per cent of the country is covered by canopies of lush tropical forest, which have an immense biodiversity with more plant species in them than in all West Africa’s forests combined.

We have also established a network of 13 national parks covering 11 per cent of the country’s landmass. These contain over 2,000 species of trees, and are home to around 75 per cent of the remaining forest elephants in the world.

Gabon is one of the few places left where forest elephants can roam from forest to sea – and indeed can be found by tourists happily strolling along the beach.

It is this knowledge that we believe will be key to what we can contribute to the Commonwealth as the whole planet grapples with the issues of the impact of climate change, loss of biodiversity and the challenges of sustainable development.

Over the last decade, however, Gabon’s government has driven an ambitious economic restructuring.

Gabon was previously economically dependent on oil and the extraction of raw materials. Since then, the economy has diversified to open up to other sectors, such as wood, finance, digital, agriculture and tourism.

Gabon has entered fully into this energy transition and into the creation of a green, sustainable economy that is both concerned with progress and respectful of man and nature.

The Sustainable Development Law passed in 2014 enshrines the right to sustainable development for the Gabonese people and laid the foundation for the development of carbon, biodiversity and human capital credits.

The Climate Law passed in 2021 ensures continuing carbon sequestration for the coming decades, providing a crucial international service.

The legal protection of 26 per cent of marine waters enacted in 2018 also ensures the protection of significant populations of marine mammals, helps secure artisan fishery livelihoods and formalised a revenue stream of approximately $6 million from sustainable pelagic tuna fisheries.

Gabon’s waters are home to the world’s largest nesting population of leatherback sea turtles who come ashore to lay eggs in the sand of our beaches, and its waters each year fill with whales that travel there to raise their young.

Joining the Commonwealth provides an opportunity to work with other partners in driving this transition that we have undertaken not only in our homeland but now also in support of our new fellow Commonwealth countries.

We believe that through being part of the Commonwealth we can contribute more to making ours a greener, healthier and more sustainable world.

In two years time, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Samoa, which like all maritime nations knows only too well the impact climate change threatens.

That is why I loudly and proudly say:

“Vive le Commonwealth!”