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Environmental Protection" (HGM (91)6) which you requested in Kuala impur. It gives particular attention to the issues before UNCED, and in particular those of women and small states.
In the Langkawi Declaration, adopted in Malaysia, you resolved to tackle all these environmental problems both individually and collectively. Your goal was to advance policies and programmes, including reaching international agreements, which would achieve sustainable development on a global as well as a country basis. Difficult issues remain to be resolved in the UNCED preparatory process in such areas as financing and the transfer and development of environmentally sound technologies. The Expert Group Report recognises that environmental protection can only be dealt with in the context of sustainable development and it highlights the strong interdependence between developed and developing countries in promoting sustainable development. In that context, you will no doubt wish to consider ways of supporting UNCED, encouraging the active participation of all countries in international arrangements, and improving Commonwealth programmes in the area of sustainable development.
The programme of action initiated at Kuala Lumpur is well underway. Of particular interest is the Report on the Commonwealth-Government of Guyana Programme for Sustainable Tropical Forestry (HGM(91)7), an imaginative concept which I hope will now receive international recognition in view of its potential as a significant working model in this challenging area of sustainable tropical forestry.
4.
COMMONWEALTH IN THE 1990s AND BEYOND
You have all agreed that the appraisal of the Commonwealth's future role should be the centrepiece of your deliberations in Harare. You will do so against a background of dramatic global change.
You have already seen the Report of the High-Level Appraisal Working Group of Officials which highlights key Commonwealth concerns and suggests some priorities for the future. colleagues in the High-Level Group will be meeting in Harare on 15 October and will draw from the Report in developing their own. recommendations to you and reporting accordingly (HGM(91)8). All this should provide a good basis for your discussion of the future goals and priorities of the Commonwealth and should assist you in formulating a suitable declaration.
To facilitate your discussions further, I sent you with my letter of 24 July a Strategic Action Plan designed to show how the Commonwealth could respond in practical ways to the priorities identified by the Working Group of Officials. In the Strategic Action Plan I I also thought it right to give an indication of the resource implications of such a programme of work.
I do not envisage that you will want to get into detailed discussion of all this. But I trust that, in addition to setting
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