The Tribune

Peter Young puts the modern significance of the Commonwealth in context on its day of celebration . . .

Although the Commonwealth hits the headlines as a news item from time to time, few people are familiar with the workings of this historic association of 52 sovereign states which, with a few exceptions, are former British colonies.

Commonwealth Day is celebrated annually on the second Monday of March and is marked in London by a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey attended by The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth.

So today, it is appropriate to re-examine the association’s role and significance and, in particular, its likely new relevance in world affairs in light of Britain’s fresh interest in it as the former ‘mother country’ embarks on the momentous task of formally withdrawing from her membership of the European Union (EU).

Traditionally, British High Commissioners use Commonwealth Day as an opportunity to promote locally the shared values of democracy, equality and good governance and to celebrate the Commonwealth’s strength and diversity as a group of nations bound together by a common history and language and by close cultural links.

One way of doing this is to publicise The Queen’s annual Commonwealth message and to give talks in schools. I recall doing the latter here in the Bahamas with varying success, and on one occasion being brought down to earth by a young pupil who, despite what I fondly thought was my careful and informed explanation, turned to me and posed the fundamental question “but what is the Commonwealth?”

Despite being an association of the largest, smallest, richest and poorest countries covering a third of the globe and with a combined population of some 2.3 billion, the Commonwealth over the years has not captured public imagination generally and its role, purpose and function are little understood. It is relatively unknown apart from the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, which attract enormous interest and publicity, and the biennial Heads of Government meetings (known as CHOGMs), which make headlines when sometimes they become embroiled in political controversy.

Looking at its history, a small group - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa - with Britain at its helm made up the original British Commonwealth of Nations. This became simply the Commonwealth as Britain’s colonies (including the 16 realms which, rather than declaring a republic, retain their allegiance to the Crown through having The Queen as head of state) progressively achieved independence in the following years and became part of what has been described as a ‘family of nations’ held together by the special bonds of long-standing friendship, shared experience and co-operation.

As the pace of decolonisation quickened, this association developed into a multicultural and multiracial organisation whose strength derived in large measure from the diversity of its members. All this was summed up in the 1971 Singapore Declaration, which formally described the Commonwealth as a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, each responsible for its own policies, consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding and world peace.

As far as the Bahamas is concerned, membership of the Commonwealth has provided over the years a range of funding, technical co-operation and practical assistance through a host of inter-governmental and non-official bodies - just one current example is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which owns and maintains the Nassau War Cemetery.

On the political front, a significant development was the choice of Nassau as the venue for the 1985 CHOGM when The Queen visited the Bahamas. It was a success even though it was marred, to some extent, by controversy about imposing economic sanctions on South Africa. The upshot was the appointment of a small Eminent Persons Group, on which the Bahamas was represented, to report on the situation in South Africa.

The nation was also made a member of the High Level Appraisal Group, which was appointed at the 1989 CHOGM in Kuala Lumpur to report on the role of the Commonwealth in the 1990s and beyond. Another plus, in 1998, was the staging in Nassau of a United Kingdom/Caribbean Forum to discuss mutual interests. This arose from a separate Commonwealth initiative.

The contemporary Commonwealth is unique insofar as its members continue to work together for their mutual benefit in practical ways through its inter-governmental organisations as well as via voluntary, philanthropic and professional non-official groups - the so-called People’s Commonwealth.

Bodies like the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation were created to foster aid and technical assistance, and a business culture has gradually developed since the CHOGM in Edinburgh in 1997. The main theme of this meeting was trade and investment, and a Caribbean Business Forum (CBF) was established with a remit to strengthen intra-Commonwealth trade.

At the hub of all this activity around the world is the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, which dates back to 1965 and is presided over by a Secretary-General. Unfortunately, controversy has surrounded the current incumbent, Baroness Scotland, and this needs to be resolved in order to ensure the credibility of the Secretariat, whose leadership should be above reproach.

The Commonwealth’s new emphasis on trade and investment was boosted by a ground breaking CBF conference in Malta in 2015, at which it was recognised that, in an increasingly competitive and globalised economy, regional ties were becoming more important and that the Commonwealth with its ready-made network of English-speaking countries - often with similar business practices and common legal systems and institutional frameworks - had a special kind of ‘economic relevance’.

It seems that this, combined with a new set of circumstances and potential opportunities arising from the UK’s vote in its referendum to leave the EU, provided the impetus for last week’s inaugural meeting of Commonwealth Trade Ministers in London. The objective of this gathering was to reaffirm the commitment of its member states to a free and fair multilateral trading system and to define an ambitious Commonwealth-led ‘Agenda for Growth’ to promote trade, investment, enterprise and job creation.

In practice, this should mean using existing informal contacts and links to develop new inter-governmental co-ordination with the aim of unlocking the trading potential within the Commonwealth. This sounds like a lofty ideal, but it should be judged against the UK’s well publicised intention to broaden and intensify, post-’Brexit’, its trade links with its former colonial territories.

Prime Minister Theresa May has made it clear that Britain, freed from the constraints of EU membership, is already seeking, as a newly self-governing and independent global trading nation, to re-engage with the rest of the world. This will include re-invigorating her long-standing relationships with Commonwealth countries, not only the larger and richer ones like Canada, Australia, India and South Africa but also smaller nations in, for example, the Caribbean, which in some cases Britain has neglected in recent times.

While some of the smaller developing countries are concerned about losing both EU aid and trade preferences and that they will no longer have a champion within the EU to protect their interests, they should not underestimate the likely beneficial effects of the UK’s renewed interest in the Commonwealth, including improved co-operation over a range of issues in addition to trade and investment - for example, security and policing, information sharing, training and education, immigration, technological exchanges and climate change.

All eyes should now be on the potential advantages of a revitalised Commonwealth leading to greater prosperity for all its citizens across its many and varied countries. It behoves those countries themselves to consider how they might benefit from greater co-operation across the board, both within the association and with a post-’Brexit’ ‘Global Britain’. If managed properly, the outcome will surely be good for the Commonwealth.

So, it would be fair to say that in all its countries this year people should be wishing one another a particularly happy Commonwealth Day!

• Peter Young is a retired British diplomat living in Nassau. From 1996 to 2000 he was British High Commissioner to The Bahamas.