Shaping a Better World Through Shared Beliefs and Vision

He speaks of the Commonwealth’s historic role in shaping the global agenda, discussing three aspects of its role in promoting free and fair trade; mutual respect and understanding; and democracy and good governance.

“Trade as the key to development; respect and understanding as the key to harmony; the rights of voters and the institutions of government as the key to democracy: none are the exclusive preserves of the Commonwealth, yet all are the active concerns of the Commonwealth within the world at large. And the world hears the Commonwealth’s voice,’ says Mr McKinnon.

On trade, the Secretary-General notes that Commonwealth Heads of Government signed a Statement on Multilateral Trade at their Malta summit in November 2005, demanding a fair deal for the weak and vulnerable, within a rules-based multinational trading system under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation. The Statement called on all developed countries to demonstrate the political courage and will to give more than they receive.

The Commonwealth also places special store in the need for adequately and consistently funded ‘Aid for Trade’, to ensure that weaker economies can meet the immediate costs of being open for and to business, and then in turn grasp the opportunities provided through trade. Those opportunities, he says, will go begging without the money for new infrastructure, legislation, training and diversification.

On respect and understanding, Mr McKinnon writes that dialogue, understanding and goodwill are the only solutions to the ills of chauvinism and extremism.

“The alienation that breeds violence has many roots. Religion, language, ethnicity and culture are among them. But so too are poverty, illiteracy, environmental degradation and political injustice,” says the Secretary-General.

The Commonwealth, he points out, can draw on its comparative advantage as an example of unity in religious, ethnic and even economic diversity. A Commonwealth Task Force on tolerance and understanding is being assembled, which will consult widely across the Commonwealth.

It will report to the next meeting of Heads of Government in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2007, offering new policy measures and tools, handbooks, and citizenship education programmes for governments to use in addressing marginalisation and building communities.

Mr McKinnon also highlights Commonwealth activities in promoting development and democracy.

“The quest for democracy and good government is a journey, not an end. It stands or falls on two things: the political will to change and improve -- and the genuineness or not of the public service culture that is then charged with bringing about those improvements. It takes time: but some have managed in 20 years what the older democracies are still working on after two centuries,” says the Secretary-General.

Commonwealth activities include election monitoring and building democratic institutions, both nationally and locally, and across the three branches of government -- the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

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• Secretary-General
• CHOGM