The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which recently concluded in Colombo, Sri Lanka, saw the Commonwealth take purposeful strides towards a global future in which social progress is more inclusive and economic prosperity can be shared with greater equity.

Leaders flew in from all over the world to find answers critical to the future of their nations.

CHOGM is where the heart of the Commonwealth beats strongest – when the leaders of member states convene in a spirit of mutual support and common purpose to deliver practical outcomes that advance democracy, development and respect for diversity.

The modern Commonwealth has long been a source of visionary ideas combined with practical action. Concern for the environment was given its first meaningful airing at the highest levels of world political leadership at a Commonwealth summit in 1989, fully three years before the Earth Summit in Rio, when the world finally sat up and paid attention to climate change.

The Highly Indebted Poor Country initiative to tackle head-on the unsustainable debt challenges of the poorest states in the world was conceived at a Commonwealth finance ministers meeting.

Both the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation adopted the Commonwealth’s approach to overcoming the migration of teachers and nurses from developing states to plug labour supply gaps in developed countries, leaving the sending countries with critical shortages.

The Commonwealth idea of a Small States Vulnerability Index was brought to fruition by a joint Commonwealth Secretariat/World Bank task force.

Our recently launched Youth Development Index, measuring the development and empowerment of young people in countries worldwide, is another example of the Commonwealth taking a world lead.

This same global thought leadership was given a boost at the recent Sri Lanka summit, with heads of government agreeing to develop a shared and collective Commonwealth perspective to contribute to next year’s United Nations negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the successor to the Millennium Development Goals.

There was also agreement to pursue fresh ideas on unlocking finance that is critical for the environmental needs of our vulnerable and threatened members.

Our leaders gave collective recognition to the need for institutional Commonwealth steps to help our members export goods and services and to building sustainable national finances, so critical to ensuring the resilience of our small and vulnerable states in a very difficult economic environment.

Commonwealth proposals towards achieving this goal have already attracted the interest of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The modern Commonwealth has long been a source of visionary ideas combined with practical action

Along with the big ideas came the practical toolkit, including agreement to find ways to break down the borders that separate Commonwealth citizens wishing to travel to meet and explore each other’s countries.

There was also the decision to help Commonwealth countries currently without national broadband. And there were steps agreed to do more to tackle early and forced marriage as well as sexual violence in armed conflict.

The turnout of business people at the summit was the largest ever, as the Commonwealth’s comparative advantage as a like-minded community in which to do business and trade was recognised.

Most of these and other advances were lost in the media spotlight of Sri Lanka’s domestic situation.

Even here, as in most of our member countries, we are working quietly and patiently on ideas and practical support.

We are involved in some of the most important areas such as our support for a forthcoming investigation into torture and mistreatment by State forces.

We are helping with reconciliation, sharing the post-conflict experience we have in other member countries such as South Africa.

More importantly for the long term, we are assisting the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission to build its own capacity so that it can be a voice for the voiceless and can effectively examine allegations of human rights abuse.

The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission must be able to stand firmly on its own feet in the service of all Sri Lankans.

The 2013 summit of Commonwealth leaders once again demonstrated the ability of our membership to find collective resolve and to make our persuasive and inclusive voice heard on global issues of the moment. The Commonwealth continues to employ its distinctive talents in ways that are of deep impact and lasting effect.

The Commonwealth has long taken the approach that our values – now set out clearly in our new Charter – are not to be found on a spectrum with political values at one end and development values at the other. All our values are of equal importance and are indivisible.

Development, democracy and respect for diversity are mutually reinforcing and mutually beneficial. Cooperation within our worldwide family – with CHOGM as its foremost manifestation – reinforces commitment to these goals and secures a deeper sense of national ownership to them within Commonwealth countries and among their leaders.

At a time when the challenges of the wider world and the challenges within each of our member countries require respect and understanding, the Commonwealth achieves progress at its own measured pace, adapts to the circumstances and has a proven track record of results.

Kamalesh Sharma is the secretary general of the Commonwealth.

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