An Australian former diplomat and Commonwealth expert, Hugh Craft, has just visited Malta to offer his invaluable advice on this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which will see 53 world leaders gather in Valletta on November 25. Steve Mallia spoke to him.

Hugh Craft could be described as a newcomer to the Commonwealth scene. But it would not be advisable. The Australian former diplomat has headed the political division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, was a member of the Commonwealth team that monitored the post-independence Zimbabwe election in 1980, and attended numerous Commonwealth heads of government meetings.

All this experience came in handy when Australia had just about completed its preparations for the 2001 CHOGM when the world was turned upside down by the September 11 terrorist attacks - and the following month's conference was one of the victims.

"It was extremely disappointing to have to postpone it. It was a blow to the taskforce of a very hyped up CHOGM. But we had no choice and had to start all over again," he manages to say through a few coughs after picking up a bad cold during his short stay here.

Starting again meant honouring all the contractual commitments and embarking on new ones, from scratch. The venue was shifted from the bustling city atmosphere of Brisbane to the tranquil settings of a remote golf resort in Coolum and CHOGM was held in a much more low key, but high security, fashion some five months later. It was the first CHOGM to be interrupted since they have been held in their current form since 1971, though Commonwealth meetings have been held for around 100 years.

The Coolum CHOGM also marked the start of a change in the format, and the first shortened, two-day, version is being held in Malta in November when the leaders gather at the Golden Sands Resort. The theme will be 'Networking the Commonwealth for Development.'

However, Mr Craft does not believe the shortened version is the beginning of the end of Commonwealth meetings: "I think it's just reality. When I first became involved with the Commonwealth meetings, they ran for about a week. Before that they'd run for about 10 days. The Australian Prime Minister used to get on the slow boat to England and spend three months away back in the '40s and the '50s. No Prime Minister or President can afford to spend that sort of time away from his own domestic situation; so it's inevitable that the Commonwealth had to trim its sails.

"The most important thing is that the retreat dimension, which provides opportunities for informal discussions and arriving at consensus views, has been retained. I would hope that that would strengthen the association rather than weaken it."

Nor does he agree with the claims of some that the summits these days are meaningless talking shops where no real decisions are taken. "The fact that leaders of more than 50 countries come together, not to talk at one another, but to discuss issues across the table has great advantages in developing understandings and consensus positions on both bilateral and multilateral issues which are vital to global order and world peace... these meetings are not simply to do with formality but there are lots of opportunities for bilateral meetings. It's an opportunity to sit down and talk rather than rush in and rush out," he maintains.

Mr Craft, who was invited by the CHOGM task force in Malta and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London to provide feedback, goes to pains to stress that he is not here to second guess the arrangements. "My role has been to suggest to the taskforce where the pitfalls might be in the light of our own experience or where local circumstances might dictate a different way of doing things. For example, this CHOGM is being held on an island replete with wonderful history and culture. The leaders are going to be given the opportunity to meet in both the old Maltese traditional surroundings and the new vibrant dynamic Malta."

One of the major pitfalls, he believes, lies in underestimating the numbers that come over for the conference, and adapting to changing circumstances. The job of the organisers will also entail dealing with certain delegations that are difficult, which he says each CHOGM always receives: "I won't name them... the task force and the Commonwealth Secretariat will provide for an advance visit by delegations and they will send their security people, people from their leaders' offices, police, security and they will look at what's being provided and I'm sure on the basis of that they will make requests about the special things that their head of government wants.

"Some of these heads will be very content with all the arrangements. But you will always get requests for the special type of car, or special type of suite, or wanting more people in particular venues than the Commonwealth traditions provide for. For example, the retreat is normally only for the head of government plus spouse plus one. That's been extended to two. I'm sure there will be people saying they want 22! So these are the difficulties that one encounters so it's a case of walking delegations through what's available and how that can be managed."

But he is adamant that Malta is capable of dealing with a conference of this magnitude, a burden other small Commonwealth members have felt too great. "With the shortened format and the new style, one of the great advantages of this is that its going to provide a way for these things to be done in a much more streamlined way and, therefore, the smaller countries will take heart from what they see here and do it."

Mr Craft is vague - he has diplomatic blood, after all - when it comes to the cost of hosting CHOGM, saying before breaking into a smile that it varies from place to place. "It's on the record in Australia though I prefer not to think about it considering we had to do it twice!" But he is adamant that the benefits for the hosting nation are huge. "All the qualitative and quantative work we did on the economic impact of CHOGM on Australia meant that the benefits to the country far outweighed the costs.

"Unfortunately, the costs came out of the same bank account but there's no question that in terms of the broad benefit CHOGM pays for the expense over and over again. For example, on the media side, you can't buy, you can't put a figure, on the promotional value that CHOGM will bring to a place like Malta... we took every opportunity to profile Australia."

The Australian CHOGM was dominated by the discussion on the membership status of Zimbabwe, which has now left the Commonwealth after being suspended for failing to observe diplomatic norms - something Mr Craft believes the Commonwealth enshrines. "It's not as if the Commonwealth is picking on Zimbabwe - Fiji, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria have all been suspended. What happened was the Commonwealth drawing a line in the sand saying, "The Commonwealth stands for certain things and if you cannot match up to them then you really haven't got a place round our table".

If it drew a line in the sand with Zimbabwe, then why has it not done the same with Pakistan which is flouting its pronouncements?

"Like others, Pakistan been the subject of discussion in terms of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and for good reason or bad, right reason or wrong, the advice to heads of government coming from their ministers is that Pakistan has adhered to what was required of it and that the suspicion should be lifted. Now, one might have personal views about that, but that's the situation. I imagine that the Pakistan issue will be a matter of continuing concern and interest to Commonwealth countries at this meeting."

Perhaps the Malta CHOGM might turn out to have a meaningful purpose in more ways than one.