Commonwealth summit: anyone for tennis?

The 50 heads of state that make up the British Commonwealth will be gathering in a New Zealand resort this month for their biennial meeting, but, asks Derek Ingram, in between the fun, will there be room for a real re-direction of such a misunderstood organisation?

For too long, the common, misconceived picture of the Commonwealth was of an economically top-heavy institution consisting of four rich countries and more than 40 poor ones. The popular press in Britain and other developed countries painted crude pictures of a group of basket cases, whose Governments were forever holding out the begging bowl.

Little attempt was made to look ahead a few decades, and consider the potential of these countries or the possibility that one day, investment in the Commonwealth relationship might come good.

Britain focused on Europe and the Atlantic relationship. Yet while its eye was off the ball the picture changed faster than even optimists expected.

Some of the leaders gathering in Auckland this month for the two-yearly Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) now head countries that are far from poor. Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are the obvious ones, but a number of other small countries elsewhere are doing quite nicely - Mauritius, Malta, Cyprus, and Belize, for example.

India, the most important Commonwealth country of all, is on its way to becoming one of the world's major economies. Even in much maligned Africa, such Commonwealth countries as Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda are making halting progress. Nigeria must eventually come good. And to all these is now added South Africa.

Britain is beginning to wake up to the fact that it has neglected the special Commonwealth relationship it enjoys with 50 countries across the world and that new trade and investment opportunities are opening up in areas where it has a historic advantage.

The new foreign policy message that Douglas Hurd began to articulate before he retired as Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, was that Britain should be casting its eyes beyond Europe - that: "There is another world out there." This discovery is a little strange, considering that it was Britain which once adventured into that other world to its own great advantage. Mr Hurd's successor, Malcolm Rifkind, in his first major speech after taking over, took the point further: "In Asia and more widely, we must exploit the priceless asset of the Commonwealth...It provides a unique entree for Britain in countries across five continents." Quite a change of tune.

"Exploit," was hardly the best choice of words in this context, but in these days of market forces, self-interest comes first; and if every other Commonwealth country sets out to "exploit" existing links, we could have a much more dynamic Commonwealth. In recent years these links have too often been neglected all round.

One factor holding back the development of the Commonwealth is that countries are still tending to look at their relationships with Britain, instead of those with the 50 other countries (51 after Cameroon has joined), of which Britain is only one. The false notion of a British Commonwealth dies hard indeed.

CHOGM every two years is the big opportunity for these relationships to be reinforced informally at the highest level. A mistake is being made in reducing the length of the meeting, at the behest of the bigger countries. This time it will last for only three-and-a-half days.

Pressure to cut the length of the meeting shows a certain arrogance on the part of the major players whose status enables them to move more easily about the world stage. CHOGM gives the leaders of small places like Lesotho, Seychelles, St Vincent and Tonga a rare chance to get to know those in the top league; like Mr Paul Keating of Australia, Mr Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Ms Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. Sensibly, the special Commonwealth formula of going into retreat for a weekend is being retained.

One reason why the Commonwealth went out of fashion in the 1970s and 80s was because many had previously seen it as becoming a global trading bloc, and then found this unrealistic; such ideas had really begun to die soon after World War II, even before the Empire became the Commonwealth, in the days when Lord Beaverbrook was still touting dreams of Imperial Preference.

Because the Commonwealth was unbalanced economically and could not become a trading bloc, the economic virtues of membership were rapidly discounted as nations began to turn to regionalism. Britain in particular began to concentrate on the European Community and paid scant attention to the economic aspects of the Commonwealth. Canada turned to NAFTA.

Even in recent years however, the economic division of the Commonwealth Secretariat has been downgraded. This is short-sighted. The numerous special studies on global economic problems such as debt and protectionism carried out by the Secretariat over the years have made important contributions to the work of the UN and other international bodies.

The Commonwealth has proved a valuable platform from which to launch initiatives on debt relief. It was at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting in 1990, that Britain proposed the so-called Trinidad terms, still being fleshed out today.

The Commonwealth is now seen as an important forum from which to launch financial reforms to tackle the problem of money laundering. At the latest Finance Minister's meeting in Jamaica in October, plans were put forward to create effective mechanisms for handling and reporting suspicious transactions, and for strengthening reporting systems and financial supervision. Ministers' also talked about developing cooperation guide-lines to recognise suspicious transactions, improving public awareness and better coordination between finance and law ministries.

Plans are being laid for a Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative - a series of coordinated regional funds and other structures to mobilise capital for commercial investments in privatised companies and small and medium-sized companies in developing Commonwealth countries.

On top of these initiatives, many bilateral possibilities remain for closer economic cooperation based on the informal relations that exist because of Commonwealth membership. Markets for the goods of the newly industrialised countries should be easier to find in fellow Commonwealth countries.

For their retreat this year, Commonwealth leaders are going to a place about as remote from the centres of international power as possible. They will travel nearly to the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand to a place called Millbrook Resort, near picturesque Queenstown.

Their minds will be much exercised this time with questions of what to do about the hot issues of Nigeria, and French nuclear testing in the Pacific. It can only be hoped, however, that as they sit about, or play tennis and golf, they will also explore how they can use the Commonwealth to more effectively build their economies.