Editorial

The fanfare that will accompany the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this morning is most fitting. The Commonwealth is a colourful organisation that represents among the richest cultures in the world and they all manage to blend together through one common language.

Over 40 heads of government - the highest ever number for a CHOGM - will be walking into the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta today as Queen Elizabeth II officially gets proceedings underway. But when the veneer of the opening ceremony vanishes in Cinderella-like fashion shortly before 11 a.m., the leaders will get their first opportunity of the weekend to start moulding the agenda for the coming days.

Through the foreign ministers meeting, in the past two days, we have already been given a taste of what that recipe is likely to consist of: cooperation in areas of security, tackling criminality, promoting development and eradicating poverty under the all-encompassing theme of Networking the Commonwealth for Development.

And as the leaders head towards their retreat venue in the luxurious setting of the Golden Sands Resort this afternoon, they will all have their personal agendas in mind: Britain will be pressing home the need for cooperation on security issues as it seeks to bolster its armoury in the faltering war on terror; Malta will be arguing that the causes of poverty must be addressed to tackle the mammoth problem of illegal immigration; while most of the other nations will be throwing the ball back in the EU members' court in order to press them to get a deal on agricultural subsidies.

On that front, Britain and Malta are clear where they stand - that African countries must be given a fairer deal - but France is equally adamant about maintaining protection. Not surprisingly, Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon has been unequivocal in his defence of developing countries if sceptical about the prospects of improving their situation.

The most powerful, if selfish, argument in favour of gradually removing subsidies is that it is inexorably linked to the issues of poverty, security and illegal immigration. This is not a case of chicken and egg, just a viscious circle. And the only way it can be broken is for the World Trade Organisation and EU in their crucial meetings next month to plot a course that will lead to equitable results.

This CHOGM - the 18th in the more modern format and the first that is almost exclusively dedicated to a retreat - provides an ideal forum for frank talk by minds that have been informed by the accompanying forums held earlier this week and the first ever pre-CHOGM foreign ministers' meeting which ended last night. It also provides an ideal opportunity for the leaders taking part to establish concrete plans for increased cooperation in all the areas that affect them.

But, as British parliamentary under-secretary of state Lord David Triesman told The Times in an interview, people would ultimately judge whether the Commonwealth is an effective club on the basis of what it does rather than what it says. And this is where the test this weekend lies. In the past the organisation has managed to resolve several apparently insurmountable situations, South Africa the biggest feather in its cap. But now they must show that the Commonwealth can have an effective and not just symbolic purpose, or all the fanfare would have been for nothing.