Friday, 25 November 2005Leaders of the Commonwealth nations are in Malta for a twice-yearly meeting that will focus on trade and terrorism.
Secretary-General Don McKinnon said he hoped to reinvigorate the debate on trade reform, ahead of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks next month.
The leaders of the 53-nation club of the UK and its former territories are also expected to discuss human rights.
Mr McKinnon said he would raise the subject with Uganda's president, amid concerns over elections there.
The Ugandan opposition leader, Dr Kissa Besigye, who recently returned from exile to fight presidential elections in March, has been charged with treason, terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and rape. He is due to appear in both a military and civilian court on Friday.
There could be frank exchanges between the President Yoweri Museveni and other leaders alarmed at the timing of the charges, says the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge in Malta.
Ambition
The summit will feature one executive session straight after the opening on Friday morning, and from then on, closed-door discussions will take place over two days in what is known as a retreat.
Commonwealth leaders represent about 1.8 billion people, or 30% of the world's population.
The subject of trade reform will be the "one issue that leaders will be very united on", Mr McKinnon said.
He said that most leaders "are getting really angry at the lack of ambition" surrounding the WTO trade negotiations in Hong Kong next month, aimed at forging a new global trade deal and lifting millions of people out of poverty.
"There are too many people in either Geneva or Brussels saying that it's time a lot of developing countries lowered their expectations. I don't think they intend to lower their expectations," Mr McKinnon added.
Developing countries at the summit are also expected to lobby UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to press the European Union to slash farm subsidies at the WTO talks in Hong Kong. Britain currently holds the presidency of the EU.
BBC News
November 25, 2005 |
Friday, 25 November 2005
BBC News
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