Lord Purvis: CHOGM 2018 is a milestone in terms of opportunity for the Commonwealth

3 min read16 April 2018

The most sustainable way to lift millions of people out of poverty across the Commonwealth is through boosting trade and investment, says Lord Purvis

Economic development is a core principle in the Commonwealth charter, but in the developing regions of the Commonwealth this remains a major challenge. Across governments, business and civil society, there is now a real appetite to see prosperity shared more equitably, and the Commonwealth can take the lead in establishing a new trade and investment agenda, based around its shared values.

Our Shared Prosperous Future: An agenda for values-led trade, inclusive growth and sustainable jobs of the Commonwealth, is the final report of a six-month-long inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group for trade out of poverty and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which aims to highlight the untapped potential the Commonwealth holds in lifting the world’s poorest communities out of poverty.

The Nigerian minister of industry, trade and investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, and I led a gender- and geographically-balanced committee of eminent persons to conduct the inquiry into the role of the Commonwealth in helping developing countries. The report calls on Commonwealth leaders to put trade for inclusive development at the heart of the CHOGM 2018 summit.

Our inquiry highlights some uncomfortable realities for the gathering heads of government, including that one in five Commonwealth citizens – twice the global average – live on less than $2 per day, while nearly 60% of Commonwealth members are developing countries. Some of the world’s most fragile economies are in the Commonwealth, and climate change will impact on the Commonwealth more than any other global grouping.

However, our report identified that the Commonwealth offers a host of intrinsic strengths and values that can be utilised to counter this, based on a strong foundation of shared values, shared cultural and historical heritage, and the unique network-of-networks setup of the Commonwealth. Our report suggests how increased values-led trade can support more women and under-represented groups to participate in their economies, and stimulate a new era of Commonwealth youth entrepreneurship.

We recognise that trade costs between Commonwealth countries are already, on average, 19% lower than between non-Commonwealth countries. Crucially, developing country exports in the Commonwealth have trebled since 2005, and intra-Commonwealth trade is hoped to double by 2030, reaching $3.86tn.

With our report, we call on the governments of all developed Commonwealth nations, driven by the UK during its time as chair-in-office, to establish a roadmap for a major new Commonwealth work programme on trade and investment for inclusive development, structured on five priority areas:

Slashing the costs and risks of trade and investment.
Boosting trade in services through regulatory cooperation.
Making trade more inclusive for women, young people and SMEs.
Addressing the special needs of small and vulnerable states.
Strengthening partnerships: government, business, diaspora and civil society.

CHOGM 2018 is a milestone in terms of opportunity for the Commonwealth; our five-point plan seeks to exploit this. The work from the inquiry urges developed Commonwealth nations to refocus their attention on a new-found direction that can deliver concrete policy actions to further sustainable and inclusive economic development for developing country members.

From the UK’s perspective, this will be the first time the UK has hosted CHOGM since the Commonwealth chair-in-office position was created, providing a unique opportunity for the UK to lead the way in terms of making trade and development a top priority within the Commonwealth’s mandate. The ambition to lift Commonwealth citizens out of poverty and the action plan to deliver it would be a fitting outcome of this renewed focus.

Lord Purvis of Tweed is a Liberal Democrat peer

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