Committee to meet on Commonwealth membership

P J Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, will Chair a meeting of the Committee on Commonwealth Membership which will focus on issues concerning membership of the organisation.

The two-day meeting will take place on 6 and 7 December 2006 at the Commonwealth Secretariat headquarters, Marlborough House, London.

The Committee was mandated by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their meeting in Malta last year. Its report will be presented at their next meeting in Kampala in 2007.

Commenting on the meeting, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said, “It is nearly ten years since the Commonwealth considered the issue of membership. It has not admitted any new members since 1995. With growing interest in the Commonwealth from many countries, including outstanding applications to join, it is time to look again at the issue of membership and how the Commonwealth interacts with non-members.”

Note to editors:

In addition to the Chair, P J Patterson, other  members of the Committee are: Professor Guido de Marco, former President of Malta and current Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation; Yashwant Sinha, Member of Parliament from India; Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Speaker of Parliament from Uganda; Baroness Valerie Amos, Leader of the House of Lords and President of the Council; Justice Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former Judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague and former Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Samoa to the UN and USA; Cheryl Carolus, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Tourism and former South African High Commissioner in London; and Olivia MacAngus, senior consultant and lobbyist on federal government relations issues with a major public relations company in Canada. Professor David McIntyre of New Zealand, a distinguished Commonwealth historian, will act as a consultant to assist the Committee in its deliberations.

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