Pakistan will be invited to Malta CHOGM

Pakistan is to be invited to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta even though Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon underlined yesterday that a pronouncement would be made in September on the situation in the country.

The invitation to November's CHOGM, signed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, will be handed to the Pakistani High Commissioner in London in the coming days, though it remains to be seen whether the country will accept.

The Commonwealth recently lifted its suspension of Pakistan after its President, Pervez Musharraf, gave assurances he would cease to be the effective head of the military. However, he has so far failed to honour this pledge and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) - the group of foreign ministers who adjudicate issues of states that fall outside the norms of Commonwealth behaviour - expressed their disapproval the last time they met.

Mr McKinnon told Maltese journalists yesterday there were no new developments but that CMAG would be meeting in New York in September and making a judgment on what they believe has happened in Pakistan since they last met.

"There has not been any fundamental change... and the Commonwealth will still be expecting him, as he has said, that he will decide... whether he wants to continue being President of Pakistan and head of the army sometime in 2007."

Mr McKinnon also said that the Commonwealth would rather have Zimbabwe - which left the Commonwealth after being suspended - inside the family but there was nothing on the agenda to indicate that the issue would be discussed by the ministers.

Mr McKinnon said he was in the process of writing to the leaders asking what they would like to be discussed during the meeting. However, the Commonwealth's agenda was dominated by the promotion of good governance. "And if every Commonwealth country gets their democratic institutions right, that brings investment into their country. A lot of our work is to help ensure they get them right."

He said the Commonwealth also used its vast human resources to help countries rebuild institutions. "We have 100 people at any one time working as consultants," he said.

Mr McKinnon said the Commonwealth tried to ensure countries had the capacity to handle the effects of trade negotiations, such as the World Trade Organisation meeting being held in Hong Kong shortly after CHOGM.

"Now, this international trade round, which I am becoming increasingly pessimistic about, is going to be determined finally by the EU, the US or both. But it's important that countries know what is happening in the minds of the EU, or in the minds of the US, because that can have an impact on your country...

"We're saying this trade round must surely conclude by seeming to be good for developing countries. This was to be a developing countries' trade round. It is showing less signs of that now, regretfully so."

Mr McKinnon stressed the importance of being in the Commonwealth - which has an annual budget of $50 million - and said countries usually got 10 to 15 times more money out of it than they put in; one of the reasons being that the UK and Australia take nothing back.

"We also have 75 organisations that start with the word Commonwealth that provide enormous depth and breadth of knowledge. All the members can take advantage of that network... it is up to countries to join clubs and then make use of the organisations."

He said that the 53 Commonwealth nations did not always agree on issues but when they did they created a "powerful force".

Mr McKinnon believes the Malta CHOGM, being held between November 25 and 27, is an "amazing opportunity" for the island to showcase itself. He said the conference, and events leading up to it, would reinforce Malta as a tourism destination for up to two years after the event.

This coverage was made possible through the assistance of the Strickland Foundation and Air Malta.