Earlier this year, I met a group of women in a Ugandan village who had formed a co-operative to export their handmade wicker baskets. One explained how she had struggled to support her four children, as the local market for her baskets had been very limited. But, she told me, her business was now thriving thanks to the assistance of a Commonwealth adviser, who helped her community market their products and find new export outlets. This is just one of the ways in which the Commonwealth touches people’s lives and gives them opportunities to improve their prospects.

In the decades ahead, the world economy is likely to be dominated by large players like the US and China. Our duty in the Commonwealth is to ensure that our members don’t get squeezed out of international markets as a result. That is why we work with resource-rich countries to ensure that they get a fair deal from large corporations. It is why we provide experts to small island states to help build their trade capacity, accelerate their integration into the world economy, and secure their maritime boundaries.

Over the past two years, the Secretariat has continued, through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC), to provide solutions tailor-made to the problems of our member countries. But this unique instrument, which delivers tangible progress and is in ever higher demand, is under threat. Over the past decade the CFTC has lost 40 per cent of its value in real terms. We are constantly expected to do more with less. Without stronger financial commitment from governments, I am concerned that the CFTC will soon reach a level which is largely ineffectual and unsustainable.

But whatever the CFTC can achieve, economic progress will be slow until developing countries have a real chance to trade their way out of poverty.

Everyone agrees that trade subsidies harm the poor. But many governments are reluctant to end the scandal of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, seeing it as a high-risk strategy. Not acting now, however, presents a far greater risk. That is why the Commonwealth is making its voice heard loud and clear, urging leaders in the US, the EU and Japan to prioritise the interests of the developing world in WTO talks.

If the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, the developed world must show greater moral leadership. At the current rate, goals such as achieving universal primary education by 2015 will not be met for another hundred years: too late for the 75 million children in the Commonwealth who have never been in a classroom.

As the Commonwealth’s work on development and democracy has shown, economic and social development is greatly enhanced when strong, democratic institutions are in place. The Commonwealth Latimer House Principles set the standard for good governance, committing our member states to stamp out corruption and uphold accountability and transparency at every level.

Some people, however, are losing faith in democracy, as increased cynicism about politics and low electoral turnout undermine the democratic process. Some are frustrated at the slow pace of the economic dividend that democracy is expected to deliver, while others have come to doubt the bona fides of those who are committed to spreading democracy.

The Commonwealth seeks to ensure that democracy has a positive impact on people’s lives. We work with member governments to help build and strengthen democratic institutions, and to show that democracy has the power to change communities, promote justice and human rights, and deliver better standards of living. Democracy should not come alive only at election time. It must protect people’s rights and well-being, and provide them with more choices and greater control over their lives.

Over the past two years, the Commonwealth has been active in many fields, delivering practical solutions that help people fulfil their aspirations and transform their lives. None of this would have been possible without the talent, energy and commitment of the Secretariat’s staff.

When Commonwealth Prime Ministers established the Secretariat fully 40 years ago, they saw it as being at the service of all member governments, “as a visible symbol of the co-operation which animates the Commonwealth.” The Secretariat has been loyal to that vision.

The scope and depth of its work has been expanded by the many achievements of our extensive civil society network, providing a direct link between the intergovernmental organisations and the people, and giving the Commonwealth a head start in building consensus on pressing global issues.

Since the 2003 summit in Abuja, outstanding commitment and leadership have been shown by the Commonwealth’s Chairperson-in-Office, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. His close interest in Commonwealth affairs and enthusiastic advocacy of causes dear to the association have stood us in good stead. We now look forward to the Malta CHOGM with the conviction that the Commonwealth will be further energised as a vibrant network which creates a better life for all Commonwealth citizens.

Don McKinnon, 1 September 2005