Since the negotiations for British entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) began in 1970 the Secretariat has been in close contact with all Commonwealth governments on the issues involved. At the request of Commonwealth Finance Ministers, it has prepared papers for consideration by the 20 Commonwealth governments to which the offer of association has been made, and studies of the individual problems of certain of these countries have been made at their request. Several meetings of representatives of Commonwealth governments to discuss future relations with the EEC were organised by the Secretariat in 1972.

The Secretariat has observer status at meetings of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and has produced a comprehensive brochure on Commonwealth generalised preferences, has helped to marshal Commonwealth points of view on preferences and has focused the attention of UNCTAD on Commonwealth problems. During UNCTAD meetings, the latest being the Third Session in Santiago in 1972, the Secretariat organises informal consultations among Commonwealth delegations.

A report on the flow of intra-Commonwealth aid, compiled by the Finance and Research Division from information supplied by member governments, has beeen published annually since 1966. Another annual report published by the Secretariat, on Commonwealth trade, is prepared by the Trade and Commodities Division, which also produces publications and intelligence bulletins dealing with the production, prices and market trends of particular commodities.

Research papers on a wide range of subjects, including currency sharing arrangements, foreign private investment and the local costs of absorbing technical assistance, have also been prepared for the information of member governments.

Development Assistance

The multilateral Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, which is financed by contributions from almost all member countries, was established in April 1971. Its object is to help developing Commonwealth countries to make the most of their own resources, and the resources available to them through bilateral and multilateral channels, for economic and social development. Contributions to the Fund are separate from, and in addition to, contributions to the general cost of the Secretariat.

The Fund is controlled by a Board of Representatives, comprising one representative of each participating government. A Committee of Management, with the Commonwealth Secretary-General as chairman, supervises its general operations. The assistance given includes advice through experts and consultants, training, specialist seminars, and equipment to support staff financed by the Fund. Activities for which assistance is provided include the evaluation of development projects, manpower planning, the preparation of statistics, the taxation of industries, public administration, transport and tourism. In certain fields, the Fund will finance the education and training of students from developing countries in other Commonwealth developing countries, and in-service training of experts and officials. The scope of the Fund was expanded in Septtember 1971 to include assistance for export market development.

Education

The work of the Education Division of the Secretariat is to encourage and assist co-operation among Commonwealth countries, to keep educational

developments under review, to promote the study of ways of dealing with particular education problems, and to publish information on education topics. The Division is advised by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee (CELC), on which all member governments are represented.

Working papers for Commonwealth Education Conferences, the fifth of which was held in Canberra in 1971, are prepared and co-ordinated in the Division. Specialist conferences on particular topics, such as mathematics in schools (Trinidad, 1968) and education in rural areas (Accra, 1970), are also arranged. As part of the Secretariat's youth programme, undertaken at the direction of Heads of Government in 1969, seminars on youth and national development have been held in different regions of the Commonwealth—in Nairobi in 1969, Port of Spain in 1970, Kuala Lumpur in 1971, and Malta and Cyprus in 1972. Officials from member countries met in London in June 1972 to prepare for a meeting early in 1973 of Ministers responsible for youth matters.

The Education Division acts as a clearing house, collecting, analysing and disseminating information on educational developments throughout the Commonwealth. The material assembled is distributed to governments, institutions and individual educationists, by correspondence and in the Secretariat's education publications. Among the latter are the quarterly CELC ‘Newsletter' and the 'Education in the Commonwealth' series, which includes such titles as 'Examinations at Secondary Level', 'School Building and Design in the Commonwealth' and "Teacher Education in the Developing Countries of the Commonwealth'. Surveys of anticipated needs for expatriate teachers in developing member countries and of estimated requirements for places in the universities and training institutions of the more developed countries have been carried out by the Education Division to assist educational planning in both sending and receiving countries. The Division has undertaken a review of the working of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan in co-operation with the Association of Commonwealth Universities under the sponsorship of the CELC. It also acts as a clearing house for the Special Programme for Assisting the Education of Rhodesian Africans, established by Heads of Government in 1966, under which places in institutions of higher education have been made available to some 350 students.

The Education Division is responsible for the operation of the Commonwealth Book Development Programme, designed to promote the free flow of printed material in member countries. It is envisaged that the programme will include Commonwealth Exchange Voucher Scheme for the supply of specialist journals to institutions of higher education. The publication of bibliographies (of periodicals as well as books) and the holding of training courses for people engaged in the book trade are also envisaged.

Health

Besides organising and servicing Commonwealth Medical Conferences, the Secretariat arranges discussions between Commonwealth representatives before the annual meetings of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. Much of the preparatory work in connection with medical meetings and conferences is concerned with particular studies, such as those on health needs and priorities in developing countries and on continuing medical education for doctors, which were undertaken by the Secretariat in co-operation with member governments for the 1971 Medical Conference in Mauritius.

Continuity between meetings and conferences is provided by the Medical Adviser, whose primary responsibility is to foster co-operation by ensuring that training opportunities (in developing as well as the more developed member countries), conferences and research projects are brought to the attention of all member governments.

The Medical Adviser has undertaken extensive consultations with governments on the possibility of establishing closer regional co-operation in medical training and the pooling of specialist services. A meeting of the Commonwealth West African delegates to the WHA was arranged in 1971, and in May 1972 the Ministers of Health of the four West African countries, meeting in Geneva with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, decided to set up a Commonwealth Regional Health Secretariat in Lagos and also to appoint a provisional council to make proposals for the co-ordination of postgraduate medical education in the region. The Secretary-General was asked to appoint a Regional Secretary, in consultation with the four governments, and the finance for the initial period is being provided by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation. Information on specialist services in various Commonwealth countries and on drug-testing laboratories with facilities available to Commonwealth members is being compiled in the Secretariat. Information on family planning programmes, training courses and technical assistance has been brought to the attention of member governments. The Secretariat was requested by the Mauritius Conference to examine ways of expediting aid for health purposes and of securing wider recognition for medical qualifications awarded in different countries. Legal Matters

The functions of the Legal Division of the Secretariat are to facilitate the exchange of information among member governments on legislation in their respective countries and on other legal matters, to bring to the attention of governments information on particular legal problems, to keep governments apprised of significant changes in the law of other Commonwealth countries, and to help with legal matters at Commonwealth conferences and in the work of the Secretariat generally.

Member governments contemplating legislation on particular subjects are provided, on request, with information about similar legislation enacted in other Commonwealth countries. Examples of subjects covered are company law, strata titles, noise abatement, citizenship, and the office of Ombudsman. A bibliography of works on treaty succession has been compiled, and a number of specialist studies have been undertaken at the request of individual governments. Through the good offices of the Division contacts have been established between legal authorities in different Commonwealth countries.

The Director of the Legal Division acted as Legal Adviser to the Commission on Anguilla in 1970 and was closely involved in the Fourth Commonwealth Law Conference and the Conferences of Commonwealth Chief Justices and of Ministers of Law/Justice and Attorneys-General in New Delhi in January 1971.

Information

Proposals for a Commonwealth Information Programme were approved in principle by Heads of Government in January 1971 and endorsed in October 1971 by a meeting of officials who took the view that the flow of information on

Commonwealth activities should be increased in a modest but practical way through existing channels.

A small Information Division at the Secretariat is now carrying out the Programme, which provides for an increased flow of information to the news media, the production of reference publications on Commonwealth affairs, assistance with the development and co-ordination of journalist exchange schemes and training courses for Commonwealth communicators, close cooperation with kindred organisations, and co-ordination of information activities. 'Commonwealth Diary', listing coming events, and 'Commonwealth Record', containing factual summaries of recent events, are now published quarterly, and several 'Notes on the Commonwealth', reference papers on Commonwealth institutions and activities, have also been issued. Member governments have nominated home-based liaison officers to co-operate with the Information Division in the production and distribution of information material. The Commonwealth Information Centre at Marlborough House, which is open to the public and maintains a selection of Commonwealth newspapers and other publications, is now part of the Information Division.

A

MARLBOROUGH HOUSE

T the Commonwealth Economic Conference in Montreal in September 1958 the British Government offered to provide, for the many Commonwealth activities and meetings which are held in London, suitable premises which might be regarded as a Commonwealth centre. This suggestion was welcomed by the Conference and in February 1959 the Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that Her Majesty The Queen, who had shown a close personal interest in this project, had placed her Palace of Marlborough House at the disposal of the Government so that it might be available for this purpose. Few structural alterations were needed but some adjustment and modernisation was required to adapt the building to its new purpose and new furnishings and equipment were installed. The initial cost of adapting the building was met by the British Government, who also bear the cost of maintenance. The Governments of the twelve countries then Members of the Commonwealth each presented six chairs for the main conference room.

On 28th March 1962 Marlborough House came into use as a Commonwealth centre.

The main purpose of Marlborough House is to serve as a centre for Commonwealth meetings in London. The most important of these meetings are the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meetings. Fifteen Meetings of Commonwealth Prime Ministers have been held in London since 1944; the 1962 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting was the first to be held at Marlborough House.

Marlborough House stands to the east of St. James's Palace, between the Mall and Pall Mall. The main central part of the house now provides on the ground floor a suite of conference rooms for Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meetings and other Commonwealth meetings, together with secretariat offices

and reception rooms. On the upper floors there are offices for Prime Ministers and their accompanying delegations and staffs. A small radio and television studio is in the basement. The East and West Wings contain the offices of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation.

The Commonwealth Secretariat maintains a Commonwealth Information Centre on the ground floor of the West Wing, which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. The Centre is used for briefings during official conferences.

When Marlborough House is not in use for Commonwealth meetings the assembly and conference rooms and other former state apartments are open to the public at stated times from Easter Sunday until the last Sunday in September.