The Commonwealth of Nations Martina Kuerov Contents n

The Commonwealth of Nations Martina Kučerová

Contents n General facts n History n The Commonwealth of Nations n Member states n Interests

General facts Official language English n Head of the Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth II. n Number of member states 53 n Date of establishment 1949 n

History 1867 – Canada was transformed into selfgoverning Dominion => Lord Rosebury „The Commonwealth of Nations“ n After that other parts of the empire became Dominions too n 1926 – the Imperial Conference => the British Commonwealth of Nations n

History 1931 – Statute of Westminster n After the Second World War empire began changing 1947 -India gained independence -Pakistan was created -many colonies became sovereign states n 1949 – the conference of Commonwealth Prime ministers n

History n 1965 – the Commonwealth Secretariat was established in London n 1971 – the Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles n 1971 – the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation n 1991 – Harare Declination

The Commonwealth of Nations A voluntary association n Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth n Some members of the Commonwealth recognise the Queen as their head of state => Commonwealth Realms (16) n The majority of the Commonwealth are the republics (32) n The remaining members are realms with their own monarchs (5) n

The Commonwealth of Nations Organisation in which countries with diverse economic backgrounds have an opportunity for close and equal interaction n The primary activities: -create an econommic co-operation between member nations -promote democracy, human rights and good governance in those nations -training experts in developing countries and assisting with elections n

The Commonwealth of Nations n Membership is open to countries that: - accept the association‘s basic aims - have a present or past link to a Commonwealth member n Some countries have never shown an interest in joining the Commonwealth => Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman

Member States

Member States n Commonwealth Realms: United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu

Member States

Member States n Realms with their own monarchs: Brunei, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland Tonga

Member States n Republics: Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mosambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia

Interests Many CN share certain identifiable traditions and customs n The Commonwealth Games n Commonwealth Day n Commonwealth comprises almost a third of the world‘s countries and has about the quarter of the world population n The four largest CN by population: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria n

Interests n The smallest member is Tuvalu n The three largest CN by area: Canada, Australia and India n The four largest economies: India, UK, Canada and Australia

That‘s the end! Thank you for your attention…