When Commonwealth leaders gather in Antigua and Barbuda from November 1 to 4, they should address a question that reaches beyond their association: How can countries of different sizes, wealth and outlook sustain cooperation in a world increasingly driven by confrontation?
Sir Shridath Ramphal, who served as Commonwealth Secretary-General for 15 years, offered an answer worth recalling: “The Commonwealth cannot negotiate for the world, but it can help the world to negotiate.”
That insight deserves a place at the centre of this summit.
For Antigua and Barbuda, hosting the meeting is a source of pride and a considerable responsibility. The national contribution will include helping to create the conditions for frank discussion and decisions that serve the association and the wider world.
My belief in the Commonwealth has been sustained over decades of service, study and advocacy. I served on the governing board of its Secretariat and was a member and Rapporteur of the Eminent Persons Group whose report, A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform, was presented to leaders at Perth in 2011.
We chose that title deliberately. The Commonwealth’s worth must be evident in the lives of its people.
Today, demonstrating that worth requires an understanding of what members owe each other and what they stand to gain by acting together.
Britain, Canada and Australia have interests in dependable markets, diversified economic relationships and partners across regions. India and South Africa bring productive capacity, expertise and diplomatic influence, alongside ambitions for a fairer international order. Small states, which form the majority of Commonwealth members, seek security, opportunity and a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their survival.
These interests overlap.
Even countries with substantial economies cannot secure reliable trade, stable international arrangements or diplomatic support entirely through their own power. Smaller countries contribute markets, knowledge, regional relationships and sovereign voices. They also bring experience of managing vulnerabilities that larger countries increasingly encounter themselves.
The Commonwealth provides opportunities to turn these interests into cooperation. Its diversity gives it access to perspectives that narrower groupings cannot readily assemble.
That is the significance of Ramphal’s observation.
When negotiations become trapped between established positions, countries need places where they can test ideas, understand each other’s constraints and explore possible agreements. Commonwealth consultations can help prepare that ground.
The summit’s Leaders’ Retreat offers an opportunity to begin. Heads of Government could identify a small number of international questions on which their different perspectives might help produce workable proposals.
Climate finance and debt are obvious candidates. Commonwealth membership includes countries seeking finance, countries providing it and countries with influence in the institutions that determine its terms. A serious discussion could establish what each requires for agreement and where compromise is possible.
Trade offers another. Members could explore how to preserve predictable trading arrangements while addressing concerns about economic security, employment and development. Such discussions would acquire international value if participating governments subsequently advanced agreed proposals in the relevant negotiating bodies.
This work requires patient diplomacy, supported by analysis and sustained contact between capitals. A declaration of support for multilateralism becomes useful when governments invest effort in making negotiations succeed.
The summit’s theme, ‘Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth, provides an immediate opportunity to demonstrate that approach.
Secretary-General Shirley Botchwey’s emphasis on investment is welcome. The Secretariat’s new platform brings together more than 60 projects submitted by 20 countries. The next task is to help sound proposals secure financing and produce employment, infrastructure and economic activity.
Project preparation remains a serious obstacle, especially for small administrations. Engineering studies, environmental assessments, legal advice and financial planning can cost more than governments can readily afford.
Commonwealth cooperation should coordinate access to existing expertise and project-preparation finance. Where gaps remain, members and their partners should agree how to fill them. Investors would gain better-prepared opportunities; countries would improve their prospects of securing investment on workable terms.
Trade cooperation should be equally practical. A business that finds a customer abroad may still lose the sale because certification is expensive, payment is difficult, transport is unreliable or its representatives cannot travel readily to conclude an agreement.
Governments should identify obstacles within their control and negotiate their removal. Willing members could begin with specific arrangements that others may subsequently join, respecting their existing regional and international obligations.
Small states must help shape this agenda. Their role includes proposing solutions, negotiating common positions and contributing expertise. Antigua and Barbuda’s hosting of the summit, and Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s forthcoming stewardship as Chair-in-Office, demonstrate that leadership need not depend on population or economic weight.
Responsibility for implementation belongs to every government.
Larger members should use their influence to advance agreed Commonwealth positions internationally. All members should implement commitments, contribute according to their means and provide the Secretariat with the authority and resources required for its work.
Having served on its Governing Board, I know that ambitions eventually become questions of staff, budgets and priorities. In 2012, reflecting on the reform process after the CHOGM in Perth, I warned against confusing adoption with implementation. That distinction remains essential.
Leaders should agree on a manageable programme, assign responsibility and establish when progress will be reported. Their citizens should be able to judge what has been achieved.
The same accountability must extend to Commonwealth values. Dependable laws, accountable government, access to justice and respect for rights support both public confidence and economic opportunity. These obligations apply to every member.
Antigua and Barbuda can provide the setting for a renewed Commonwealth bargain: each country contributes to cooperation from which all can benefit, and together they help sustain an international system in which negotiation remains possible.
Ramphal understood that the Commonwealth’s service could extend beyond its membership. In today’s troubled world, that is a responsibility its leaders should embrace.
They should leave Antigua with practical work agreed, responsibility assigned and a shared determination to help the world negotiate.
Sir Ronald Sanders is Antigua and Barbuda’s senior diplomat. He has served in many capacities in the Commonwealth and has published extensively on the Commonwealth.
