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• Australia’s International Development Secretary meets Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith

Australia’s International Development Secretary meets Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith

16 January 2008

Strategic direction of Commonwealth Secretariat and outcome of recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting discussed

Australia’s recently appointed Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan MP, visited the Commonwealth Secretariat on 19 December 2007.

He held discussions with a Commonwealth Secretariat team headed by Ransford Smith, Deputy Secretary-General, on the outcome of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala held between 23-25 November and the strategic direction that Heads have set for the Secretariat’s future programme of work.

Among issues discussed were trade matters confronting Commonwealth countries, reform of International Financial Architecture and International Institutions, challenges facing small states especially in the Pacific region, bridging the digital divide, the development constraints affecting Commonwealth countries' attainment of the MDGs and the status of a Review of the CFTC, the capacity development fund of the Secretariat.

Parliamentary Secretary Mr McMcMullan was accompanied by Sabina Curatolo, Senior Adviser in Mr McMullan's office, Catherine Walker, Deputy Director-General, Global Programs, AusAID and Ravi Kewalram, Head, Political and Trade Policy Branch, Australian High Commission, London. The Secretariat team also comprised Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Director, Economic Affairs Division, Jacqui Wilson, Director, Governance and Institutional Development Division and Roy Rodriguez, Head of Office, Office of the Deputy Secretary-General.