(iii)
CONFIDENTIAL
7
DSR 11C
Commonwealth meetings give us an opportunity
to put across our views on important issues
to Third World countries in a more informal
and relaxed atmosphere than at the UN, even
though the informality of Commonwealth
gatherings is less than it was. Discussion
of Namibia at the Heads of Government meeting
at Melbourne, which left Commonwealth African
and other members with a better understanding
of what the 5 nation Namibia contact group was
doing, was a a case in point. It also enables
us to learn something of others' views.
A
The extent to which this exchange of views is
of value to us varies in different Commonwealth
fora. It has had value at recent CHOGMs
on Zimbabwe in Lusaka, and on Namibia
J
in Melbourne; and at recent health Ministers
meetings, which precede WHO Conferences and are
useful in keeping them freer than they would
otherwise be of North/South rhetoric; and at
law Ministers Meetings; less value at Finance
Ministers Meetings; and little or no value
at recent education and agriculture Ministers
Meetings.
(iv) The Commonwealth may hinder Russian exploitation
of small states, for example in the Caribbean
and the Pacific. This is hard to demonstrate,
and there are cases Malta, Seychelles, Grenada -
which point the argument the other way. But the
Commonwealth provides us with a ready means
/of