The Commonwealth of Nations

1
The Commonwealth of Nations

• Martina Kucerová

2
Contents

• General facts
• History
• The Commonwealth of Nations
• Member states
• Interests

3
General facts

• Official language
• English
• Head of the Commonwealth
• Queen Elizabeth II.
• Number of member states
• 53
• Date of establishment
• 1949

4
History

• 1867 Canada was transformed into selfgoverning
  Dominion
• gt Lord Rosebury The Commonwealth of Nations
• After that other parts of the empire became
  Dominions too
• 1926 the Imperial Conference
• gt the British Commonwealth of Nations

5
History

• 1931 Statute of Westminster
• After the Second World War empire began changing
• 1947 -India gained independence
• -Pakistan was created
• -many colonies became sovereign
  states
• 1949 the conference of Commonwealth Prime
  ministers

6
History

• 1965 the Commonwealth Secretariat was
  established in London
• 1971 the Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth
  Principles
• 1971 the Commonwealth Fund for Technical
  Co-operation
• 1991 Harare Declination

7
The Commonwealth of Nations

• A voluntary association
• Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the
  Commonwealth
• Some members of the Commonwealth recognise the
  Queen as their head of state
• gt Commonwealth Realms (16)
• The majority of the Commonwealth are the
  republics (32)
• The remaining members are realms with their own
  monarchs (5)

8
The Commonwealth of Nations

• Organisation in which countries with diverse
  economic backgrounds have an opportunity for
  close and equal interaction
• The primary activities
• -create an econommic co-operation between member
  nations
• -promote democracy, human rights and good
  governance in those nations
• -training experts in developing countries and
  assisting with elections

9
The Commonwealth of Nations

• Membership is open to countries that
• - accept the associations basic aims
• - have a present or past link to a
  Commonwealth member
• Some countries have never shown an interest in
  joining the Commonwealth
• gt Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan
  and Oman

10
Member States
11
Member States

• Commonwealth Realms
• United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia,
  The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica,
  Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia,
  St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the
  Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu

12
Member States
13
Member States

• Realms with their own monarchs
• Brunei, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland and Tonga

14
Member States

• Republics
• Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Cyprus,
  Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana,
  Guyana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Malawi, Maldives,
  Malta, Mauritius, Mosambique, Namibia, Nauru,
  Nigeria, Pakistan, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra
  Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
  Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Republic of
  Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia

15
Interests

• Many CN share certain identifiable traditions and
  customs
• The Commonwealth Games
• Commonwealth Day
• Commonwealth comprises almost a third of the
  worlds countries and has about the quarter of
  the world population
• The four largest CN by population India,
  Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria

16
Interests

• The smallest member is Tuvalu
• The three largest CN by area Canada, Australia
  and India
• The four largest economies India, UK, Canada and
  Australia

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Thats the end!

• Thank you for your attention