Introduction: An overview of the Commonwealth Summit
1.The Commonwealth Summit (the Summit) is a biennial gathering of the Commonwealth Heads of Government. Malta hosted the 24th Summit in 2015 and Vanuatu was due to host the 25th in 2017, but was unable to do so after its infrastructure was devastated by Cyclone Pam. The Commonwealth Heads of Government therefore agreed in November 2015 that the UK should host the Summit instead, and it will take place between 16 and 20 April. The centrepiece will be the meeting of the Heads of Government in London, followed by a leaders’ retreat at Windsor Castle and events to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s leadership of the Commonwealth since 1952.
2.This will be the first time since 1997 that the UK has hosted the Summit and the Government has said that it will be one of the biggest ever hosted in the UK. In light of the once-in-a-generation significance of the event, we took evidence on 20 February from the FCO’s Minister of State for the Commonwealth, Lord Ahmad, and the UK’s Commonwealth Envoy, Richard Oppenheim, and Tim Hitchens, the Summit’s Chief Executive, who are based in the Cabinet Office. As well as taking evidence on the Summit itself, we have used it as an opportunity to take evidence on the Government’s vision for the UK’s tenure as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office between 2018 and 2020 and the Government’s stated plans to rejuvenate the organisation as a whole.1
1 The role of the Chair-in-Office is to voice Commonwealth positions at high-level international forums. In practice, it is akin to a rotating presidency of the organisation.
Published: 5 April 2018