The Prime Minister, Helen Clark is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Uganda. The Queen is Head of the Commonwealth and opened the 3-day conference. She talked about the importance of democracy and education. Prince Charles is also in Uganda to attend the conference.
New Zealand belongs to the Commonwealth, along with another 52 countries. Most of these countries were British colonies a long time ago. The Queen is the head of state for 16 of these countries, including New Zealand. Many of the people in the Commonwealth play British games like cricket and bowls. Every four years, athletes compete in the Commonwealth Games which is a small Olympic Games. Last year, this was held in Melbourne and in 2010, it will be held in New Delhi, India.
Commonwealth members believe in democracy, human rights, good government, fair laws, free trade and world peace. There is a feeling of friendship between countries in the Commonwealth. Some of these countries give trade and immigration benefits to other Commonwealth countries.
Pakistan has just been suspended from the Commonwealth. Early in November, Commonwealth members gave President Musharif 10 days to give up being head of the army and stop emergency rule but he has not done this. Pakistan was suspended once before in 1999, but returned to the Commonwealth in 2004 because it had made progress towards democracy. The government in Pakistan is angry that the country is no longer a member of the Commonwealth. |