Sri Lanka clears CMAG hurdle, focus shifts to hosting CHOGM in Nov.

By Dharisha Bastians

In a major breakthrough Sri Lanka yesterday cleared what is likely the last diplomatic hurdle on its journey to playing host at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in November this year

This was after the grouping’s Ministerial Action Group concluded its key meeting in London yesterday signalling no move to put the country on notice or shift the summit venue from Colombo.

It is learned that in the issue pertaining to Sri Lanka as next hosts of CHOGM the CMAG had decided it did not have a mandate to decide on the summit venue.

 The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) concluded its 39th meeting yesterday making no reference to Sri Lanka in its concluding remarks. Sri Lanka was not listed as an agenda item for the CMAG meet, but was expected to be taken up informally, according to diplomatic sources. In a related development External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris had discussions at Marlborough House in London with Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary General of the Commonwealth, about the arrangements underway for the meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November this year.

In a separate statement External Affairs Ministry said Minister Peiris also briefed the Secretary General regarding the Government’s plans for three other major events on the sidelines of the summit – the Business Forum in Colombo, the Youth Forum in Hambantota and the People’s Forum in Dambulla. Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Dr. Chris Nonis, attended the discussion.

With international challenges mounting over Colombo’s human rights record and recent impeachment of the Chief Justice, Sri Lanka’s crucial role as host of the CHOGM and CHOGM Chair for the next two years has been in focus. The Government has engaged in extensive diplomatic lobbying to ensure Sri Lanka stays officially off the CMAG agenda, but some CMAG members were keen to raise the issue.





 CMAG’s concluding remarks released by the Commonwealth Secretariat following the meeting said the meeting had been chaired by Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni and attended by Senator Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia John Baird, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada AJ Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica Dr Abdul Samad Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Dr Samura Kamara, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone Bernard K Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Tanzania Winston Dookeran, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago Nipake Edward Natapei, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Vanuatu.

CMAG welcomed the recent adoption by Heads of Government, and signature by The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, of the Charter of the Commonwealth, encapsulating the core values and principles of the Commonwealth. It noted that the Charter reaffirmed the Commonwealth’s commitment inter alia to democracy, human rights, the rule of law, separation of powers, freedom of expression, good governance, tolerance, respect and understanding and the role of civil society. As the custodian of the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values, the Group pledged to continue to promote these commonly agreed goals.

The Group reviewed developments in relation to the country currently on its formal agenda, Fiji.