The Prince of Wales holds a Roundtable meeting with Commonwealth leaders from the Caribbean and Americas

The Prince of Wales today held a Roundtable by video link with The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, The Prime Minister of Barbados, The Prime Minister of Dominica, The President of Guyana, The Prime Minister of Jamaica, The Prime Minister of St. Christopher and Nevis, The Prime Minister of St. Lucia, The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The President of Rwanda, the COP26 President Designate and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. Leaders took the opportunity to express condolences on the death of The Duke of Edinburgh. 

This was one in a series of regional Commonwealth Roundtables in which The Prince of Wales is engaging in partnership with leaders on: economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic; accelerating action on climate change and scaling sustainable investment opportunities. The Roundtables build on the work of HRH’s Sustainable Market’s Initiative and his recently released Terra Carta which serves as the basis of a recovery plan for Nature, People & Planet. 

HRH’s Roundtables with Commonwealth leaders are due to conclude ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Rwanda in June and are designed to help establish areas of joint Commonwealth action in the lead up to COP26. The initiative is being co-sponsored by the Governments of Rwanda and the United Kingdom as incoming and outgoing Commonwealth Chairs in Office.

Leaders from the Caribbean and Americas took the opportunity to highlight the immense challenges they face as a result of the triple threat of the pandemic, climate change and biodiversity loss. They also emphasized the urgent need for action, financing and investment. In particular, the eruption of the volcano in St. Vincent has put additional regional strain, with St. Vincent appealing for global assistance.

On Thursday 15th April 2021, The Prince of Wales held a Roundtable by video link with The President of Botswana, The Acting Prime Minister of Eswatini, The President of the Gambia, The President of Malawi, The President of Mozambique, The Vice President of Nigeria, The President of Rwanda, The President of Sierra Leone, and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. Read about this meeting here.

The Terra Carta, supported by HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) aims to provide a roadmap for acceleration towards an ambitious and sustainable future; one that will harness the power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector. Today’s Roundtable was joined by the following SMI partners: William B. Thomas, Chairman and CEO, KPMG International and member of the SMI’s Sustainable Investment to Investables Task Force, Dr. Karim El-Kohl, member of the SMI’s Asset Manager, Asset Owner and Private Equity Task Forces, John Neal, CEO Lloyd’s of London and Chair of the SMI’s Insurance Task Force and David Craig, CEO of Refinitiv, leading the SMI’s industry and finance data.