Three ways to save the world

In 1969 the world watched in wonder as Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon, putting an end to a furious space race which had dominated the decade.

This historic mission, which saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon, prompted Dr Eric Williams, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago between 1956-1981, to declare to NASA that: “It is our earnest hope for mankind that while we gain the moon, we shall not lose the world.”

The latter part of this message, which remains pinned to the surface of the moon to this day, formed the focus of a speech given by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma in Trinidad and Tobago on 8 May 2009. Mr Sharma was visiting the Caribbean country to discuss preparations ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), taking place in its capital, Port of Spain, this November.

He was speaking at the 23rd Dr Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, organised every year in honour of the former prime minister.

“It is in our collectiveness and connectedness, linked to our individualities, that we shall save, and not lose, the world,” the Secretary-General told an audience of distinguished guests including Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his wife, Senator Hazel Manning.

Mr Sharma outlined three ways to save the world: “protecting our values, protecting the vulnerable, protecting our variety.”

On values:

The Secretary-General described the Commonwealth as a society of values and explained the role of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, formed of a rotating group of nine foreign ministers.

This Group has the power to suspend and even recommend to Heads of Government that a country be expelled for persistently flouting the Commonwealth’s agreed values and principles. Mr Sharma emphasised that even after a country has been suspended, the Commonwealth works constructively with that country to bring it back to full membership.

“The Commonwealth is less referee and more coach,” he said. “If and when it censures, it does so with a view to removing the derogation, with the stated intent to act as a trusted partner, to return the country in question to the path of democracy and full Commonwealth membership.”

On vulnerability:

Mr Sharma outlined the Commonwealth’s commitment to its small and vulnerable countries through a wide variety of programmes.

These programmes include the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative which aims to help countries manage how to repay their existing debt or take on new debt through a mixture of sound policies, generous debt relief, and new inflows of aid. To date, 22 countries have benefited from the HIPC Initiative and have received debt relief.

Another programme which helps such countries that was mentioned by Mr Sharma in his speech is the Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS). At the close of 2008, 59 countries and territories were utilising the system to record, monitor and analyse their debt positions totalling more than one-half of a trillion US dollars in external debt.

On variety:

For the third way to save the world, Mr Sharma focused on variety – both abroad and at home. He described the Commonwealth as an association which hears and airs the views of all and as such, the “power of its collective voice and collective spirit is eminently demonstrable.”

This collective voice was active on the margins of the recent G20 Summit held in London, he told the audience. With 90 per cent of the world’s GDP sat around the table but only 10 per cent of its countries, the Commonwealth made it clear that – for all the richer countries’ pain – it was the poorer countries and their people who are the collateral damage of this global crisis.

“The Commonwealth said that a financial crisis of the developed world should not morph into an economic catastrophe in the developing world,” he said.

Mr Sharma concluded by looking ahead to the forthcoming CHOGM and its theme of forging a “partnership for a more equitable and more sustainable future”. At this biennial summit he said that with shared values, a shared commitment to the most vulnerable and with the diversity that comes with variety, “we shall not lose the world”.

Secretariat Links:

• Secretary-General
• Country Profile: Trinidad and Tobago