The Commonwealth Secretariat

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30916, 24 November 1965, Page 28

The Commonwealth Secretariat

IBy

Mr ARNOLD SMITH.

Secre-

tary-General o< the Commonwealth Secretariat established b« Commonwealth Prime Ministers last June.J The Commonwealth, everyone agrees, is a curious body. It is an association of sovereign states whose policies range across the whole spectrum of international affairs. But all are firmly agreed on one thing; the value of the many-sided and informal links which members enjoy with one another. This is a peculiarly Commonwealth advantage.

The reasons lie in history, in a common working language, common features, and innumerable common administrative experiences which members share. The Commonwealth evolved. No single gathering planned its charter or fixed its aims. Its | present form is the work of many hands, an accumulating number of decisions made by Commonwealth heads of Government over decades. And the process continues. The shape of the Commonwealth is continually being remade. Every fresh gathering moves it in new directions. The Commonwealth today is not the same body it was five years ago. The Commonwealth will be different again, reshaped by fresh forces and responding, I hope, to fresh needs. There is no steady state in the Com-

monwealth. It is in a state of continuous creation.

In this adaptability and capacity for new initiatives lies the Commonwealth's great potential. I think that the Commonwealth stands on the threshold of what may yet be the most interesting and important phase of its development. For a century it has been preoccupied in working out the equality of partnership which has become its chief characteristic. But the phase of decolonisation is almost over and the Commonwealth can turn to other tasks. It can now grapple, not with matters of the constitutional relationships between its members, but with the problems common to all members and indeed to all mankind —the enduring but urgent problems of poverty, disease, the threat of war and the imbalance between the rich and poor nations, the problem of relations between the various races and continents.

These problems will not be solved by the Commonwealth or by any other institution single-handed. In tackling them, however, the Commonwealth has the. advantages of its unique style: the shared ideas, close contacts, administrative, financial and educational network and the whole indefinable attitude which makes it easier for one Commonwealth government to talk to another. The Commonwealth in no way restricts member governments in pursuit of their own policies, but it enables them to widen their horizons. The

association encourages members to think beyond their narrow self-interest, to become interested in the longerterm advantages of international co-operation. These are valuable weapons to bring to the struggle against poverty and race discrimination and war. For all the troubles and crises of this last year, they suggest possibilties opening up before the Commonwealth ever more exciting and fruitful than its past. As Dr. Banda, Prime Minister of Malawi, has declared: “Anyone who says the Commonwealth has no future is a fool.”

The other Commonwealth countries seem to agree with him. Meetings of Commonwealth heads of government have grown in frequency to become lately almost an annual event and the increase in other Commonwealth meetings, working parties and conferences testifies to the same process at work throughout the many facets of the Commonwealth association. Because of this and because the steadily enlarging membership has begun to outgrow the old ad hoc arrangements, the Prime Ministers have looked for a means of improving the machinery of co-operation. Innovating once again in the Commonwealth tradition, they have established a ■ Commonwealth Secretariat. A secretariat had earlier been suggested by some writers at the turn of the century and again in the 19305. This, however, would have been an executive body based on theories of a unitary empire which have long since been supplanted by the Commonwealth reality. The present, co-ordinating and servicing or preparatory type of secretariat was first proposed by President Nkrumah at the Commonwealth meeting in June, 1964. It was formally established in June this year when the heads of government approved its terms of reference and a first budget of £175,000, and appointed me the first Commonwealth Sec-retary-General. Pragmatic Role

The role of the secretariat, like that of the Commonwealth it serves, is difficult to define and essentially pragmatic. There is no charter and few hard and fast rules, only the guidelines laid down by the Prime Ministers. It is a body with 22 masters. It has no executive functions and in so far as there are collective Commonwealth policies these are, of course, policies adopted by the heads of government. The secretariat’s function is to develop the potentialities for consultation and cooperation which already exist, without diminishing the informality and flexibility of the Commonwealth style; Perhaps the simplest definition is to say that the role of the secretaitet is to help reveal the new Commonwealth to itself. It will undertake this task in several different ways. On international affairs it will hope to promote a further exchange of views among ail Commonwealth countries. “Consultation is the lifeblood of the Commonwealth association” is how the heads of government put it—more frequent and more comprehensive consultation to strengthen each member’s understanding of the problems and policies of its fellows.

To this end the SecretaryGeneral is authorised to prepare and distribute papers on matters of common concern, including the progress of the remaining dependent territories within the Commonwealth. He has been given the important right of direct access to all Commonwealth heads of government and is expected, by visits and other means, to keep in personal touch with governments throughout the Commonwealth.

In the same way the secretariat will assist more comprehensive consultation on economic and social affairs. It will act aS a clearing house for information and co-ordi-nating centre on certain aid projects and will initiate studies on Commonwealth development problems. In particular, it has been charged by the Prime Ministers with promoting the possibility of joint Commonwealth development projects to be undertaken in individual Commonwealth countries.

The secretariat will also be responsible for servicing meetings of Commonwealth Ministers and officials. This will involve the drafting of preparatory papers to define and point problems and issues for discussion. Above all, it will be charged with the organisation of meetings of Commonwealth heads, and I am to act as SecretaryGeneral of these meetings. Close Relations Finally, the secretariat will be expected to maintain close relations with the many Commonwealth bodies already in existence. Some of these are governmental, like the Commonwealth economic and Commonwealth education liaison units, located in Marlborough House alongside the secretariat itself. Some are semi-official, like the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and some are purely private and voluntary. A review committee will decide whether some of those most directly connected with the secretariat’s work should be merged with it. Most will remain, their number testifying to the diversity of links which make up the Commonwealth association.

Carrying out all these functions is a formidable task and the secretariat will grow into them only gradually. Some, however, cannot wait. As Secretary-General I have attended the Commonwealth

Finance Ministers’ meeting in Jamaica and the Commonwealth medical conference in Edinburgh, and have already had consultations with Commonwealth governments or their representatives on a wide range of subjects including the handling of Singapore’s application for membership of the Commonwealth. This month, I am visiting Central and East Africa for discussions with heads of Commonwealth Governments there. In these first few months of the secretariat’s existence, however, the prime need is to create the organisational structure itself. The secretariat will be staffed by a mixed-manned force drawn as widely as possible from Commonwealth members.

As well as the Se'cretaryGeneral, two deputies have been appointed. Mr A. L. Adu, a former head of the Ghanaian civil service and later Secretary-General of the East African Common Services Organisation, will have responsibility for international and administrative affairs, and Mr T. Gooneratne, previously secretary to the treasury in Ceylon, will supervise economic and development affairs. In addition, the secretariat has already recruited personnel from India, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and Nigeria, and in the next months will complete its establishment with further staff from other Commonwealth countries.

The result will, I hope, be an organisation with the imagination, diversity of experience, and adaptability of its widespread membership. No narrower organisation would be worthy of the multi-racial Commonwealth we must serve.