COMMONWEALTH Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) begins today in Perth, Australia, with food security, climate change, establishment of an independent commissioner to monitor human rights and reforms taking the front-burner.
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 54 independent states with the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as the head.
Member-states of the body comprise 19 from Africa, three from Europe, 12 in North America, one in South America, eight in Asia, and 11 in Oceania (including one suspended member, Fiji).
The members have a combined population of 2.1 billion people (almost a third of the world population) with 1.17 billion of the population domiciled in India.
President Goodluck Jonathan, along with other leaders of the group, is already in Perth, Australia, awaiting the meeting, to be declared open by the Queen.
In Paris, France, Nigeria has asked members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to evolve measures to strengthen the world body for enhanced performance.
Yesterday, Nigeria's Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, in her intervention at the third plenary of the on-going 36th session of the General Conference of UNESCO holding in Paris, France, implored member-states to initiate better ways of supporting UNESCO, especially with more funds to enable the group perform its constitutional duties.
Queen Elizabeth II has been on an 11-day visit to Australia ahead of the meeting.
Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, who addressed journalists yesterday, said the summit would also discuss the promotion of effective management of natural resources through greater transparency and better governments.
He said the meeting would also discuss measures to eradicate diseases such as polio and Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Human Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and to address other prevalent diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Kudd, who addressed journalists along with the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, stated that the "discussions in Perth will be on some of the most serious challenges facing individual members as well. I've referred already to food security; I've referred to climate change. I've referred also to sustainable economic growth. However, the challenges of health and the threat, which communicable and non-communicable diseases represent to the peoples of the Commonwealth, will be at the forefront of our agenda with the challenges of education."
"He said it is an indictment on world leaders that 67 million primary school age children are not in school today, adding as "we meet here in Perth, we must be mindful of the fact that half the world's hungry live in the Commonwealth itself and therefore it makes sense for us to set out a vision for how we address the critical challenge of improving agricultural productivity, reducing excessive food price volatility and enhancing humanitarian food supply."
Critics have labelled the 62-year-old Commonwealth "an anachronistic relic of the British Empire." But Sharma rejected the label, insisting that the body is reinventing itself by placing emphasis on the economic opportunities it offers members."
Sharma, who stated that the Commonwealth has "a proven track record of positive achievements", noted that it was one of the first organisations to raise concerns about developing world debt. He added that "seven of the top eight nations on international good governance indexes were from the Commonwealth."
The Guardian