Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in London

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 (CHOGM 2018) was held in London, United Kingdom. It was overall 25th meeting of the heads of government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was also first CHOGM held following United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw from European Union. This decision has resulted for Britain to strengthen its economic ties with and play greater role in Commonwealth. India was represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Key Facts

The theme CHOGM 2018 was “Towards a Common Future“. The British hosts had set out four main goals for summit viz prosperity: boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment; security: increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organised crime and cyberattacks; fairness: promoting democracy, fundamental freedoms and good governance across Commonwealth and sustainability: building resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with effects of climate change and other global crises.
During CHOGM 2018, Commonwealth Blue Charter on ocean governance Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment, declaration on cybercrime and revised Commonwealth guidelines on election observation in member countries were taken into consideration.

Commonwealth of Nations

It is an international intergovernmental organisation of countries that were mostly former territories of the British Empire and dependencies. It was established by the London Declaration in 1949. Many countries from Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and the Pacific have joined the Commonwealth. Current membership includes 54 counties (including India). Membership is based on free and equal voluntary co-operation. Queen Elizabeth II is Head of Commonwealth. She is also monarch of 16 members of Commonwealth, known as Commonwealth realms.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2018