Commonwealth Heads of Government and Foreign Ministers to meet in New York

Commonwealth leaders will meet in New York later this month to set out a route to reform international institutions.

On 24 September, Commonwealth Heads of Government will review and endorse a statement of beliefs and proposals set out by 11 of their number in June 2008, on how to make global institutions work better. The focus of their discussions will be the continuing Commonwealth efforts to accelerate United Nations reform, to promote deeper reform in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and to promote a new system for global environmental governance.

Leaders will also discuss the global and the local impact of rising food prices. They will explore ways in which the Commonwealth can assist in addressing the challenges of - and opportunities for - increasing food production. The Commonwealth already runs programmes of information exchange and improvement of agricultural production techniques.

Heads will also have preparatory discussions before the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, on 25 September 2008. At that meeting, they expect to repeat the Commonwealth’s emphasis on the interdependence of democracy and development in meeting the Goals, and the primacy of multilateral solutions.

Earlier on 24 September, Commonwealth foreign ministers will meet to review progress on meeting Commonwealth commitments – made at the last Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala in November 2007 – to address climate change issues, especially as they affect small states, and to share Commonwealth best practice in building respect and understanding, and addressing extremism.

In advance of his trip to New York, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: “These Commonwealth meetings, held in the wings of the UN General Assembly, are of course debating the issues at its very centre. The combined voice of a quarter of the world’s countries will be heard by all. Our shared challenges demand action as well as argument, and each of these issues can benefit from the Commonwealth’s common positions, as well as its proposals – and actions.”

For further media enquiries, please contact Victoria Holdsworth on +44 7894 593520 or v.holdsworth@commonwealth.int