By Vernon Daley, Staff ReporterCOOLUM, AUSTRALIA:
THE COMMONWEALTH Heads of Government Meeting came to an end in Coolum, Australia yesterday with leaders agreeing to fight international terrorism, eliminate poverty, intensify efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS threat and increase the involvement of young people in governance.
Leaders also agreed to forge new investment and trading opportunities for Commonwealth countries, especially small states.
"Through an enhanced facilitation role we want our organisation to help member states get better access to international assistance," said the Coolum Declaration. Leaders of small states from the Pacific and the Caribbean yesterday put back the issue of small states on the table after earlier discussions failed to satisfy them.
"We were concerned that that matter was being marginalised," Belize Prime Minister and CARICOM chairman Said Musa told journalists on Monday.
"We have serious concerns that we need to get across to the major players about our needs, our concerns particularly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US," he said.
Discussions held earlier this week on the issue centred on the access of small states to developed markets.
However, CARICOM leaders led by Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo called for the discussions to shift from market access to market penetration. It was suggested that multilateral lending agencies could help small states improve their competitiveness by setting up special financing arrangements to assist them in raising cheap funds. At the same time Jamaica's Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister K.D. Knight said Jamaica raised serious concerns about the Commonwealth's definition of small states. Under the Commonwealth's definition, small states are defined as countries with a population of 1.5 million or less.
This effectively excludes Jamaica even though the island has similar problems to other small states such as access to capital and competitiveness in international trade. Mr. Knight said discussions were continuing to arrive at a "more uniform" definition of a small state.
Meanwhile, the Coolum Declaration committed leaders to an unrelenting fight to root out terrorism, following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States last year.
"We solemnly reaffirm our resolve as a diverse community of nations individually and collectively to take concerted and resolute action to eradicate terrorism," the Declaration said.
In their efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic the leaders also called for support from the public and private sectors as well as international organisations to join in the fight against the disease, which has been ravaging Africa and the Caribbean.
The leaders also agreed to the establishment of a Pan Commonwealth "Youth for the Future" initiative aimed at creating youth enterprises and harnessing the skills of young professionals and youth volunteers to make a practical contribution to the Commonwealth.
Yesterday, Commonwealth officials hailed the summit as a success against the background of an agreement by leaders on the Zimbabwe situation as well as other issues such as terrorism, development assistance and poverty eradication.
Among other outcomes of the summit was the establishment of a special Commonwealth fund to help finance private sector activities in Africa.
The meeting also agreed to a new membership for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which is the organisation's democracy watchdog.
India, the Bahamas, Malta and Samoa replace Barbados, the UK, Canada and Malaysia on the eight-member body.
Those members who have retained membership are Botswana, Australia, Bangladesh and Nigeria. The next Commonwealth Summit will be held in Nigeria next year.
