Our Discussion:
At the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), leaders called for the “creation of an Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) to undertake an examination of options for reform in order to bring the Commonwealth’s many institutions into a stronger and more effective framework of co-operation and partnership.” Commonwealth reform will be on the agenda of the next CHOGM, taking place in Perth, Australia, in October 2011.
In cooperation with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), represented by the Rt Hon Lord Howell of Guildford, Minister of State, we convened an informal consultation of London-based High Commissioners, or their deputies, from more than a dozen Commonwealth member states in Asia, Africa, North America, the Caribbean and Australasia, Kamalesh Sharma, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, and representatives from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
The meeting was introduced by the Rt Hon Lord Howell of Guildford, FCO Minister of State with responsibility for the Commonwealth, and Sir Ronald Sanders, member of the EPG and former senior Caribbean diplomat.
