Hosting CHOGM in 2011:

Sri Lanka receives overwhelming support

On the subject of hosting CHOGM on 2011 in Colombo, Sri Lanka received the support of 45 countries out of the total of 51 member states who participated in the Commonwealth Ministers' Meeting on Wednesday held in Trinidad & Tobago.On the other hand United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada did not support the holding of the summit in Sri Lanka.

At the pre-ministerial meeting of the CHOGM , the discussion took place on the agenda about the next venue of the Summit - 2011, of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments.

Earlier in 2007, when the CHOGM was held in Kampala, Sri Lanka has offered to host the meeting in 2011 in Colombo. The Kampala communique noted the offer by the Sri Lanka Government to host the summit in 2011.

When this matter was taken up for discussion on 26 November at the Ministerial Meeting, Sri Lanka received overwhelming support from member countries from Asia, Caribbean and Africa. Only United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand opposed the Sri Lankan offer to host the CHOGM saying that this discussion should be taken by the Heads of Governments.The Asian Tribune learnt that the reason for the United Kingdom's opposition to Sri Lanka's offer is said because Gordon Brown who might be facing the next parliamentary general elections, thinks that he should embrace the support of the undemocratic forces and pro-terrorists elements in the country.Unfortunately he has failed to consider that his opposition might bring about a serious dent in the commonwealth system as a whole.

After the opposition forthcoming from UK, Canada and New Zealand, ministers have decided to refer this matter to the Heads of Governments regarding the Sri Lanka's offer to host the 2011 CHOGM in Colombo.

The practice in the Commonwealth is to arrive normally any decision on consensus.A senior official in the Commonwealth system when speaking to Asian Tribune told that when it means consensus it does not mean to be unanimous.It is expected that those with the dissenting views has to compromise their decision with the majority in order to maintain the brotherhood in the commonwealth family.The senior official further said that consensus reflects the majority view only, and dissenters have to compromise, otherwise it might lead to a serious repercussion to the Commonwealth family.He described as far as SAARC is concerned decisions are taken on unanimous basis, where as in the commonwealth only based on consensus.

Asian Tribune learnt that many member countries are of the view that Sri Lanka should be given the opportunity to showcase its success in its humanitarian endeavour to liberate the Tamils from the terrorist grip and bring back the whole of Sri Lanka under a true democratic system.The Sri Lanka Ministerial team is led by Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Foreign Affairs.The ministerial delegation did their best to galvanise the support of 95 percent of the member governments participated in the Conference.

True credit should go to Rohitha Boggollagama for his eloquent presentation of the Sri Lanka case and also for his untiring some effort to gather the support from the countries in Asia, Africa and Caribbean.

Courtesy: Asian Tribune.