Opening Remarks by Commonwealth Secretary-General, Hon. Shirley Botchwey, at the Commonwealth Forum of Sustainable Sovereign Debt on 23 March at 10am, Marlborough House, London.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Marlborough House — our collective Commonwealth home. Debt is not a question of balance sheets. For many countries, it is a question of choices; of social cohesion and of survival. Between investing in people, or servicing the past. Between resilience, and vulnerability. Between sovereignty, and the choices of creditors.
For many of our Small States and vulnerable economies, it is quite literally the difference between a new school or a shuttered clinic — between recovery and retreat. That…