CHOGM, still a great club to be in

This year, Nigeria, whose membership was suspended two years ago following the execution of political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, is threatening to gatecrash on the opening day. The government has written a letter to Commonwealth General Secretary Emeka Anyaoku, a fellow Nigerian, saying that a Nigerian delegation without visas is planning to show up in Edinburgh. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has warned that the delegation will be sent home.

The CHOGM will provide a forum for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to demonstrate Labour’s new spirit of internationalism and hopefully display greater finesse in diplomacy than was demonstrated during Queen Elizabeth’s botched state visit to India. Blair has however already ruffled feathers on the home front with his government’s announcement that there will be no traditional Scottish bagpipers at the opening ceremony since it would be a symbol of imperialism. Strange logic considering that Queen Elizabeth will nevertheless be inaugurating the meet with traditional pomp and circumstance.

Scotland, which voted six weeks back in a referendum for setting up a separate Scottish parliament, is alive with regional pride and fervour and views the ban on bagpipers as an English snub. The Scottish Chief Bagpiper has announced that he is coming to the ceremony anyway to play his pipes.

Prime Minister I K Gujral, who arrives here tomorrow, will deliver the keynote address at the CHOGM inauguration along with Tony Blair. However, CHOGM’s strength lies not in speeches but in providing a forum for heads of government to meet in an informal setting. The press is barred from the closed door meetings. There is no agenda and no voting. The Commonwealth works strictly by consensus.

On Sunday, during the Retreat, only the government heads will remain, unassisted by even their closest aides to brief them on facts and figures. It may provide an opportunity for Gujral and Blair to discuss why the Queen’s visit went so wrong. And Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif and Gujral can talk in private without anyone getting to know if the issue of Kashmir figured in the discussions.

What makes this year’s CHOGM more than just a talk shop is the two-day Commonwealth Business Forum which is being held in London prior to the summit. In fact, the main theme of this year’s CHOGM is “Trade, Investment and Development”. Three hundred trade and finance ministers along with business leaders are preparing the ground for the Edinburgh meet.

India suggests joint Commonwealth approach

India today suggested that Commonwealth nations frame a "common strategy" towards multilateral investment agreement and approach to the amendments of the articles of the International Monetary Fund.

The adoption of a joint Commonwealth approach towards a multilateral investment agreement was proposed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his address at the Commonwealth Business Forum here. "The WTO now provides a mechanism for promoting trade in a multilateral framework, and we, in the Commonwealth, should extend our full and unflinching support to foster international trade in the new rule-based regime", the Finance Minister said.