Chogm 2009 and the 'wider Commonwealth summit': an outward-looking 'Commonwealth@60': W. David McIntyre comments on the Commonwealth summit held at Port of Spain, Trinidad, in the last week of November 2009.

• Author: McIntyre, W. David
• Position: Conference news - Essay

CHOGM 2009 at Port of Spain, the first held in the Caribbean for 24 years, celebrated 60 years of the modern Commonwealth since the 1949 decision to accept republics as members. But it was a very outward-looking event. Rwanda was accepted as the 54th member and hope was expressed that Zimbabwe might return to the fold. In an unexpected innovation, three non-Commonwealth leaders were invited to address a special session on climate change--UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Sarkozy of France, and Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark, host of the soon-to-follow Copenhagen UN climate conference.

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'The Commonwealth cannot negotiate for the world, but it can help the world to negotiate'. Sonny Ramphal's famous aphorism of 1979 was echoed in the Queen's opening remarks to the Trinidad Chogm on 27 November 2009, when she said that the Commonwealth could be proud that 'in each of its six decades' it had shaped the international response to emerging global challenges.

Expectations for the Port of Spain Chogm were ambiguous. Some observers thought it would be inward-looking since celebrating the anniversary of the 1949 London Declaration, which facilitated India's continued membership as a republic, had involved a certain amount of congratulatory back-patting about the evolution of the contemporary Commonwealth. In the event, Chogm 2009 proved to be a very outward-looking occasion. Rwanda was accepted as the 54th member. After several years off the agenda, Zimbabwe got a mention in the Communique with the hope of 'conditions being created' that would permit its return to the Commonwealth. In the most unexpected innovation--which stole the media headlines--three non-Commonwealth leaders were invited to address a special session on climate change in preparation of the UN climate summit due to open in Copenhagen a fortnight after the Chogm. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen of Denmark, the host for Copenhagen, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, en route from visiting the Amazon rain forest, all addressed the heads of government. Pleading for their presence in Copenhagen, they urged heads of government to make a legally binding final commitment; to assist the most vulnerable; to give priority to controlling deforestation; and to reform the global governance of the environment. Sarkozy's dramatic conclusion was that time was running out--we were at 'minuit moins le quart'. As well as this focus on global issues, Commonwealth principles and values were re-stated; the C-MAG mechanism for monitoring violations was strengthened; and great emphasis was placed on partnerships and the rising generation.

The Secretariat's logo for 2009 was the Commonwealth@60--serving a new generation. It was publicised in an upbeat pamphlet, 60 Ways the Commonwealth Makes a Difference. In another valuable book, the Round Table Moot, founded in 1909, marked the beginning of its centennial celebrations by inviting a symposium to analyse the Commonwealth since the creation of the Secretariat in 1965. The Contemporary Commonwealth: An assessment 1965-2009 (edited by James Mayall) was launched at the University of the West Indies during the Chogm.

But it cannot be over-emphasised that the contemporary tri-sector Commonwealth is an altogether younger creation. It dates from the first youth, business, and civil society forums held before the Edinburgh Chogm in 1997. And the current pattern of two-and-a-half day meetings (in effect a heads of government's retreat) dates from Malta in 2005 when the first pre-Chogm foreign ministers' meeting was convened to handle functional co-operation and the routine business of the inter-governmental organisations. At Valetta, Don McKinnon suggested that the 'Chogm' acronym dating from 1971 should now be revised to take account of week-long events involving the political Commonwealth, the corporate Commonwealth, and the people's Commonwealth. Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma called it 'the wider Commonwealth summit'--a 'three-legged stool' bringing together public sector, private sector, and the 'third sector' of civil society. He insisted that the three legs need each other for the stool to stand up.

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