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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Indian Prime Minister to inaugurate meeting on Development and Democracy in New Delhi

23 August 2005

Indian Prime Minister to inaugurate meeting on Development and Democracy in New Delhi

The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, will inaugurate a Commonwealth Colloquium on Development and Democracy in New Delhi on 25 August 2005 .

The Commonwealth Secretary-General , Don McKinnon, will also address the meeting.

The two-day event, which is being organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), will bring together senior politicians, representatives from the corporate sector, academia and civil society from eight Commonwealth Asian countries. Senior representatives of some multilateral agencies will also attend as observers.

The participants will discuss ways of strengthening core democratic processes and institutions; accountability and tackling corruption; pro-poor economic and social policies; and creating a more democratic and development friendly international system.

Mr McKinnon said: "The Commonwealth is deeply committed to both democracy and development, which in its view, are organically linked. I believe that a discussion of how democracy and pro-poor economic and social policies can be strengthened in Commonwealth Asia will be valuable not only for the countries concerned, but also for the wider world."

While in Delhi, the Secretary-General will have meetings with the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath. Discussions will focus on substantive issues relevant to upcoming Commonwealth ministerial meetings, as well as the Heads of Government Meeting in Malta in November 2005.

Note to Editors:

The Development and Democracy Colloquium being held in India is the first of a series of regional colloquiums. Further meetings are planned for other regions of the Commonwealth.

The Colloquium follows on from the work of the Commonwealth Expert Group on Development and Democracy, which was established by the Commonwealth Secretary-General in pursuance of a mandate from Commonwealth Heads of Government given at their meeting held in Coolum, Australia, in March 2002. The Group was chaired by Dr Manmohan Singh, now Prime Minister of India.

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