VALLETTA, Malta: Queen Elizabeth II opened the Commonwealth summit Friday on the Mediterranean island of Malta — a meeting that this year will focus on climate change and the threat of extremist violence.
The 89-year-old British monarch praised the accomplishments of the Commonwealth during her address to the other leaders of the 53-nation organisation.
“Prince Philip and I first came to live here in Malta in 1949, the year the Commonwealth was founded,” she said, hailing a vast advancement in freedom and human rights in the decades since then. “I have been privileged to witness this transformation and to consider its purpose.”
Between 1949 and 1951, Philip was stationed on Malta as a Royal Navy officer and the future queen lived as a military wife, rather than a duty-burdened heir to the throne.
The Commonwealth links more than 2 billion people on five continents, including large countries like India, Australia and Canada and small island states like Tonga and Vanuatu.
Elizabeth, who said the Commonwealth is based on shared values, received a standing ovation from the Commonwealth’s leaders. She was accompanied to Malta by her husband Prince Philip, her son Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and Charles’ wife, Camilla.
The queen paid tribute to Philip, praising his “boundless energy and commitment” to the Commonwealth, and Charles, who represented her at the 2013 summit in Sri Lanka and is expected to represent her at future Commonwealth meetings if they take place on other continents.
French President Francois Hollande plans to address Commonwealth leaders later Friday ahead of the UN climate change conference beginning in Paris next week.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, meanwhile, has announced plans to set up a Commonwealth unit targeting the extremist “scourge” that is fuelling international terrorism.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the Commonwealth needs to become more relevant to the aspirations of its citizens.
“The Commonwealth must have an agenda with clear priorities, especially in the fight against radicalisation and the tackling of the migration phenomenon, which can be challenged through education and employment,” Muscat said.
“Terrorists are more scared of well-educated girls and boys who manage to get a good job than they will ever be of any army,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth spoke of the Commonwealth’s potential to tackle climate change — giving as an example the Commonwealth Canopy initiative to protect the world’s forests — and stressed the importance of getting young people involved in the fight to slow global warming.
In a nod to the young, children took to the stage for the opening ceremony dressed up as animals and characters from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries.
Born out of the British empire, the Commonwealth of Nations brings together around a quarter of the world’s countries and a third of its population. The 24th biennial summit is due to focus on the issues of extremism and migration as well as the environment.
Among the prime ministers who took their seats in the ceremony as their flags flashed across giant screens overhead, were Canada’s new leader, Justin Trudeau, Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif and Pakalitha Mosisili from Lesotho.
