Conversation Event at the RUSI
Posted by AlexT - 10/12/09 at 10:12 amTitle: Conversation Event at the RUSI
Location: Royal United Services Institute of Regina, Canada
Date: 2009-11-18
On Wednesday, November 18th, at the Royal United Services Institute of Regina, the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Canadian International Council hosted a Commonwealth Conversation event.
The speakers were the Honourable Don Toth, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and Greg Putz, Clerk of the Assembly.
They discussed the topic: “Does the Commonwealth Have a Future? The Commonwealth as seen through the 2009 conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in September 2009 in Tanzania.”
A video of a speech by the President of Tanzania was shown – calling for more support for the Commonwealth, and speakers emphasized the importance of the Commonwealth for parliamentarians and for promoting good governance.
Consensus at the meeting was that we have a lot to learn from African members of the organisation.
Category : Conversation Events
Tags: Tanzania
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December 15th, 2009 at 10:19 am
We are rapidly approaching a poitn in time where the commonwealth takes on more significance than any time since the immediate post-war period. The continued emergence of China as an econonomic and in turn political heavyweight leads to issues of self interest for those involved in the Commonwealth, not least of all the UK. The widening of the EU takes it away from a cohesive political union and towards an intergovernmental organisation based on shared rules, yet the UK remains an outsider. This is in no small part due to historic antagonism to mainland Europe and the security of links to commonwealth nations, be it socially, politically or economically.
The truth is that the UK, or any other Commonwealth member for that sake, is unable to ‘go it alone’ in the modern economy. The Commonwealth provides a robust option for the UK and its partners to enjoy deep and meaningful social, economic and political links that will allow irrelevance to be avoided. IF geographical divisions can be tackled through an increased urgency and appreciation of the need to cooperate, then the future could be bright.
More frequent thematic ministerial meetings of a highly visible nature, allied with annual Heads of State summits would be a start. Link these to highly publicised and well financed trade objectives and agreements, joint legal agreements on issues of common interests such as transport, technology and movement of people. Then add a much more robust humanitarian development model and the path is clear for more meaningful activity.
To do this would require effort and political will, and a diversion of some resource from other areas such as the EU. Yet if this was forthcoming it is clear that the Commonwealth could provide a counterpoint to China/US prominence, and an increased position for many less developed nations.