The King and Queen were told the voices of small states must be heard for there to be “true partnerships” in the Commonwealth as Caribbean nations welcomed the UK’s offer of slavery apology talks.
Charles and Camilla’s first official engagement of their trip to Antigua for a summit of Commonwealth leaders saw them sit at the head of a congregation for a special Sunday service celebrating the “family of nations”.
Anglican Bishop Ernest Flemming delivered the message and told those gathered, including cricket star Sir Viv Richards and Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, the “prosperity” of the Commonwealth must be a “shared prosperity”.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held every two years, has the theme Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth, but talks are expected to be dominated by discussions of Andy Burnham’s offer to Commonwealth nations to discuss a slavery apology from Britain.
The Prime Minister expressed “my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions” but ruled out considering financial reparations.
The senior cleric, bishop of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, said “… accelerating partnerships must mean more than signing agreements or exchanging promises”.
He added: “True partnership requires mutual respect, it requires listening, it requires fairness.
“It requires that the voices of small states, young people, women, persons with disabilities, indigenous communities, and those living at the margins are not merely heard ceremonially, but included meaningfully in decision making.
“A genuine partnership does not ask what can I take; it asks what can we build together?”
Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley, one of the leading voices pushing for an apology and reparations from Britain, has welcomed Mr Burnham’s offer of dialogue and said she would participate as a member of Caricom – the Caribbean-based political and economic union of states.
She also led a group of Caribbean leaders who launched a new slavery reparations manifesto during a reparations conference held in Ghana in June.
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