Grappling with the crisis over the grounding of the entire Qantas fleet and news from Afghanistan of the killing of three Australian soldiers,Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Sunday called off a bilateral meeting with Vice-President Hamid Ansari as the three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting concluded on Sunday morning. Indian officials said the Australian side,citing domestic exigencies,made a request that the meeting be called off and the Vice-President,who had several occasions to interact with Gillard,readily agreed. Briefing reporters after the conclusion of CHOGM,Gillard announced that leaders had agreed on a second term for Kamalesh Sharma,a former Indian diplomat,as the Commonwealth Secretary General. Calling it a happy development,Indian officials said India proposed re-election of Sharma and this was seconded by Pakistan. The four-year term commences April 2012. CHOGM leaders ended their deliberations in Perth by agreeing on measures to reform the Commonwealth but consensus eluded them on the recommendation for a human rights commissioner. In a communiqué,the leaders announced that 30 of the 106 recommendations of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG),tasked to prepare a report on reforming the Commonwealth,had been adopted without reservation,11 were deemed inappropriate for adoption,and 12 would be adopted subject to consideration of financial implications. On the remaining 43 recommendations,the Task Force of Ministers would provide more detailed advice to Foreign Ministers meeting in September 2012 in New York as a basis for further decision by Heads. On the contentious issue of a human rights commissioner a move that was opposed by India,Sri Lanka and South Africa leaders agreed to task the Secretary-General and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to further evaluate relevant options relating to the proposal by the EPG. For now,that job appeared to have been left to the CMAG. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar,who was one of the five leaders at the CHOGM conclusion briefing,said there had been agreement on strengthening the role of the CMAG. It will provide an effective check on attacks on human rights in any member state, she said. The communiqué said there had been agreement on the importance of taking urgent action on climate change and sustainable development,particularly through the G20,the UN climate change conference in Durban,and Rio+20. to assist small and climate vulnerable states develop their capacity to respond in a timely and effective way to disasters and to build their national disaster response capabilities. On the issue of terrorism,leaders committed to improve international security by unequivocally preventing the use of their territories for the support,incitement to violence or commission of terrorist acts. suppression of terrorist financing. accelerating efforts to conclude negotiations on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
