The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, will arrive in New Delhi on Saturday for high-level talks with ministers and government officials across priorities areas of food and cost-of-living crisis, climate action and preventing violence against women.

Baroness Scotland, who will be in India until the middle of the month, will be travelling to Pune, Chennai and Coimbatore after meetings in New Delhi.

She is also due to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the OP Jindal University during her 10-day visit.

It's a great pleasure to be back in India, which holds a much-valued place in the Commonwealth, Scotland told PTI.

I look forward to important discussions with ministers and other high-level officials on the issues facing our Commonwealth family and how we can work together to ease the shared challenges faced across the Commonwealth, she said.

On this visit, I will be focusing on crucial matters such as the food and cost of living crisis, climate action and post-pandemic economic recovery so that we can build a smarter more resilient Commonwealth more able to respond in this increasingly digitised and complex world, she explained.

We know we are stronger together and I look forward to continuing to grow the relationship, network and opportunities with India, she added.

Scotland will arrive in India from Mauritius, where the Commonwealth Secretariat launched the Toolkit to Enhance Access to Climate Finance: A Practical Guide' during the Fifth Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub Steering Committee meeting.

The toolkit was launched to support Commonwealth small states and other vulnerable member countries to access much-needed finance to mitigate and adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change.

Scotland, the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat the London-headquartered central body which is responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly called on all Commonwealth member-countries to continue being champions and ambassadors of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub and to work hand in hand to meet common goals to fight climate change.