TNAG-2353-FCO40-3423-Visits-by-Lord-Caithness--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and--1991 — Page 138

10.

the freest possible flow of multilateral trade on terms fair and equitable to all, taking account of the special requirements of developing countries;

an adequate flow of resources from the developed to developing countries, and action to alleviate the debt burdens of developing countries most in need;

the development of human resources, in particular through education, train- ing, health, culture, sport and programmes for strengthening family and commu- nity support, paying special attention to the needs of women, youth and children;

effective and increasing programmes of bilateral and multilateral co-operation aimed at raising living standards;

extending the benefits of development within a framework of respect for human rights;

the protection of the environment through respect for the principles of sustainable development which we enunciated at Langkawi;

action to combat drug trafficking and abuse and communicable diseases;

help for small Commonwealth states in tackling their particular economic and security problems;

support of the United Nations and other international institutions in the world's search for peace, disarmament and effective arms control; and in the promotion of international consensus on major global political, economic and social issues.

To give weight and effectiveness to our commitments we intend to focus and improve Commonwealth co-operation in these areas. This would include strengthening the capacity of the Commonwealth to respond to requests from members for assistance in entrenching the practices of democracy, accountable administration and the rule of law.

11. We cail on all the intergovernmental institutions of the Commonwealth to seize the opportunities presented by these challenges. We piedge ourselves to assist them to develop programmes which harness our shared historical, professional, cultural and linguistic heritage and which complement the work of other international and regional organisa- tions.

12.

We invite the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and non-governmental Commonwealth organisations to play their full part in promoting these objectives, in a spirit of co-operation and mutual support.

13.

In reaffirming the principles of the Commonwealth and in committing ourselves to pursue them in policy and action in response to the challenges of the 1990s, in areas where we believe that the Commonwealth has a distinctive contribution to offer, we the Heads of Government express our determination to renew and enhance the value and importance of the Commonwealth as an institution which can and should strengthen and enrich the lives not only of its own members and their peoples but also of the wider community of peoples of which they are a part.

20 October 1901