April 1978: Commonwealth ministerial meeting on the Common Fund

‘The Commonwealth cannot negotiate for the world, but it can help to world to negotiate’[1]

These were the words of the Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal at the opening of the ministerial meeting held on 14 April 1978 in London. The meeting was in fact the first time Commonwealth ministers with special responsibilities for trade had met together.

Consensus on the formation of a Common Fund for commodities had been long in the making [2], but was finally reached at the Conference on International Economic Co-operation in 1977. For many of the smaller states, the Fund represented a willingness from the international community to support their development efforts. Support made all the more crucial given the wider context of a problematic global economic scene.

The subject had received earlier examination amongst Commonwealth representatives at the London CHOGM as well as the regional Sydney CHOGM in 1977, and in an effort to turn principle into practical action a number of key studies and reports were produced by the Secretariat. Perhaps most notable amongst these papers was the Report of the Commonwealth Technical Group. This was the second in a line of Expert reports produced by the Economics Division, and it represented a thorough examination of the financial and technical aspects of the Fund.

Ramphal also saw symbolic value to the report as to the well as the ministerial meeting. When looking at the participants, it clearly demonstrated that agreement satisfactory to the North and the South was more than possible. The discussion was to continue, but resulted in1980 in the UNCATD Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities.

The records relating to the Commonwealth work on the Common Fund can be found in the Commonwealth Secretariats Library and Archives.