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Commonwealth

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have participated in this excellent debate. I hope very much that the proceedings will be read not only by the Minister’s colleagues in government but also in High Commissions throughout the world. I particularly thank the Minister for her assurances about the negotiations that will take place in Hong Kong with the World Trade Organisation, following on from CHOGM. I also thank my noble friend Lord Howell for his rather exciting vision of the Commonwealth Mark 2 including Japan. It is a challenging idea which a number of us will wish to take away and think about very carefully indeed. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Gardner of Parkes for indicating what Parliament is doing about its used computers. I can assure her that that message will now be repeated in the boardrooms of the City, where I hope the example of Parliament will be followed. Perhaps I may draw a thread between what the noble Lord, Lord Desai, and my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon touched upon. The noble Lord, Lord Desai, described the Commonwealth almost as a cross-section of the United Nations of the world, and my noble and learned friend Lord Howe referred to the experience that British Ministers have gained through participating in Commonwealth discussions prior to other discussions—for example, in G8, EU and UN negotiations. Both points are extremely helpful. I simply add that the Commonwealth is a smaller canvass upon which the United Kingdom can concentrate and focus and perhaps achieve more in the world as a whole, in particular in an economic and educational sense. On a personal note, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, and a number of other speakers referred to Uganda, which is a country quite close to my heart. I hope the message will go back to President Museveni that this House supports what he and his government are trying to do in introducing multi-party elections. It is a great challenge. I hope that a positive message will go back to Uganda that we support what is being done and that any gentle persuasion that is necessary will be forthcoming from other members of the Commonwealth. On that point, I beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers, Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.