CHOGM closing ceremony

Prime Minister Manning, distinguished Heads of Government, ladies and gentlemen, I said on Friday that I felt the Commonwealth is ‘that place in the world which comes nearest to a shared vision of a truly international community’.

Vision can become reality, and I believe it has done so – these sixty years, and these last few days.

I also said that the Commonwealth must again show itself to be ‘in and of its times, and equal to them.

I hope and believe it has done so.

What we have discussed here is the stuff of the lives of men and women, boys and girls, all over the Commonwealth at the end of the first decade of the 21^st Century.

On Friday I envisaged four outcomes from this CHOGM, and I believe we have achieved them.

First – I hoped for a restatement of our Commonwealth values and principles, with practical commitments to match.

We now have that.

Let the Trinidad and Tobago Affirmation be a guiding light for the Commonwealth for 10, 20, 30 years or more.

We have been specifically tasked to extend the way we promote and especially protect our values.

So let us do so, with energy.

And last night, I telephoned the Head of our newest member, Rwanda.

His government and peoples aspire to our values and principles, and I conveyed a warm welcome to Rwanda on behalf of us all.

I said that we pledge to travel with him – as we pledge to travel with you all.

Second – in the last days before the global community meets in Copenhagen – we hoped for a restatement of our shared responsibilities towards the preservation of our planet.

We now have that.

There is heavy traffic on the road to Copenhagen.

The good news is that it is converging, and moving purposefully into a single lane.

Yesterday, a quarter of the world’s countries, representing one third of the world’s population, declared themselves part of that procession, towards the destination that we all seek.

What is more, we agreed ways to give practical support for that process, to our smallest and most vulnerable states, which need that help the most.

I am delighted that in addition to our existing Secretary-General’s Good Offices for Peace, we will now have the Secretary-General’s Good Offices for the Environment.

Third – and in an anniversary year in which our theme has been ‘serving a new generation’ – I hoped for practical commitments to our young people, in whose eyes we see our future.

We now have that.

The Declaration issued today is testimony to the fact that the future of the Commonwealth belongs to our young people.

It is they who must preserve what needs preserving in this association, and change what needs changing.

Fourth – I hoped that we might respond to the call of this meeting for partnership in pursuit of equity and sustainability.

And we have that as well.

Through a new age portal that will help us ‘Discover, Connect, Collaborate, Grow’.

Mr Chair, where does the 60-year old Commonwealth head from here?

Only those who are rhetorically inclined talk of consigning it to history – as a relic and an irrelevance.

I hope that any critic can see that the Commonwealth has never been more relevant than it is now: in an interdependent world demanding collective thinking and solutions, it is ready-made for the 21st Century.

In 1949, in London we were 8 members. A new association was formed – ‘freely and equally associated’.

In 1979, 30 years later, in Lusaka, we were up to 40 members. We stood firm, that year, as to the complete inadmissibility of any form of racism in national life.

In 2009, at 60 years old, in Port of Spain, we now number 54 members. And here in these last two days we have charted a course, based always on the values that we share.

We seek not necessarily to grow in numbers, but to grow in impact for our neediest, and to grow in sharing our values and wisdom with others.

To our outgoing Chair, President Museveni, and to the good people of Uganda, we send all our collective thanks and best wishes. We have had two industrious years under your guidance.

To our incoming Chair, Prime Minister Manning, and the people of Trinidad and Tobago – likewise, our gratitude for this excellent meeting, and our best wishes and commitment to continued close partnership with you. The world will watch you now, and us, in defining times.

To all those of PM Manning’s team here in Port of Spain, and mine in London, who have worked so very hard to deliver a CHOGM not just of substance but of style – my heartfelt thanks.

Mr Chair, allow me to conclude by saying that two years ago, when this great honour of the Commonwealth Secretary-Generalship was conferred upon me, I had prepared no words in the event of being selected.

It came to me then, under the unforgiving lights of a phalanx of press photographers, that this Commonwealth of ours constitutes what I termed a ‘great global good’.

Two years later, I am more than ever certain that this is the case.

It is great, but it can be greater: we know there is much that we can do better, and more that we can do.

But it is great, and it is global, and it is good.

Long may it remain so.

Thank you.