By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Finance Minister will chair the forthcoming meeting of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers in Washington D.C during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

This is contained in a Statement from Julius Mucunguzi Acting Communications Adviser Communications and Public Affairs Commonwealth Secretariat and made available to InvestAdvocate.

“Finance ministers from 54 Commonwealth countries–drawn from Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Pacific, Europe and North America– will meet in Washington DC on 9 October 2013 alongside the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,” the statement said.

According to the Statement, the Commonwealth Ministers will discuss key economic and policy issues focussing on financing the post 2015 development agenda as well as reform of global economic governance.

“There will also be discussions on the Commonwealth-G20 relationship and Ministers will also receive a report of the high level advocacy mission on debt problems of small states,” the Statement said.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent countries, spread over Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Pacific, Europe and North America. It is home to 2.2 billion citizens and over 60% of these are under the age of 30. The Commonwealth includes some of the world’s largest, smallest, richest and poorest countries. Thirty-two of its members are small states, many of them island nations. Five of the Commonwealth countries are in the G20. They are: Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom.