State House, Freetown, Monday 13 March 2023 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has raised the Flag for Peace at 8:00 am Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), marking Commonwealth Day 2023, urging a sustainable and peaceful future among member nations.
The Day, an annual celebration observed by people all over the Commonwealth in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe, combines the active commitment of member states to support the promotion of peace, prosperity and sustainability to secure a better future for young people and improve the lives of all Commonwealth citizens.
“We celebrate Commonwealth Day this year by raising the peace flag in order to demonstrate our collective solidarity and commitment to peace as a central tenet of the Commonwealth Charter that we signed 10 years ago.
“Sierra Leone joins over 2.4 billion citizens of our beautifully diverse Commonwealth to reflect on our shared history and celebrate our shared values and principles that have kept us connected and strengthened through the challenges of our time.
“This year’s theme, ‘Forging a sustainable and peaceful common future’ calls on us, Commonwealth nations, to deepen cooperation not only in solving our shared challenges, but also in supporting individual nations to build and promote just, peaceful, and progressive societies,” he said.
The President also encouraged individual nations, even as they grappled with the crippling socio-economic effects of COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, climate change, and other global structural imbalances, to continue to work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the collective vision of Commonwealth.
“Additionally, in this Commonwealth Year of Youth, we must commit to galvanising concrete actions across the Commonwealth to invest in improving the lives and futures of young people.
“Let me close by commending us all, especially my colleague Commonwealth Heads of State and Government, for safeguarding the Commonwealth vision which offers hope and inspires us to find ways of protecting our planet and our people,” he said.
On 28 February 2023, President Dr Julius Maada Bio was presented with the Flag for Peace by Professor Luis G. Franceschi, the Commonwealth Assistant Secretary-General for Governance and Peace Directorate.
He was accompanied by Dr. Michelle Scobie, Head of Commonwealth Good Offices, and Abubakar Abdullahi, Peace and Development Officer in the Good Offices, Governance, and Peace Directorate.
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