Dominica-born British lawyer Patricia Scotland was on 27 November 2015 appointed as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations. With this, Patricia become the first British citizen and first woman as well to hold the role in the 66-year history of 53-member Commonwealth.
Scotland succeeds India's Kamalesh Sharma and will join the office on 1 April 2016. She will receive a salary of nearly 160000 British Pound as well as a four storey mansion in Mayfair.
She was selected during the 24th biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta on 27 November 2015.
About Patricia Scotland
• Scotland was the first black woman to be made a Queen’s Council in 1991.
• Patricia Scotland is prominent lawyer and was created Baroness Scotland of Asthal in 1997.
• She became a member of House of Lords (Upper House) of the British parliament in 1997.
• She was UK Minister of State (Home Office) from 2003-2007 and UK Parliamentary Secretary (Lord Chancellor’s Department) from 2001-2003.
• She also had served as UK Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1999 to 2001.
About Commonwealth Secretary-General
• The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body that has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965.
• The Secretary-General can now serve a maximum of two four-year terms.
• Its duties involve representing the organisation globally and also promote its values and principles mainly for democratic standards and development.
• The office of Commonwealth Secretary-General is headquartered at Marlborough House in London.
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