| Danial Norjidi |
BRUNEI Darussalam is a unique and valuable part of the Commonwealth family and can be an effective voice for the rule of law internationally.
This was shared by Tim Hitchens, the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Summit 2018 during an interview with the Weekend Bulletin.
Hitchens visited Brunei on Wednesday as part of his preparations for the Commonwealth Summit 2018, which will be taking place in April 2018 in London and Windsor.
He noted that among the topics to be discussed at the summit include challenges on trade, climate change, security and Commonwealth values.
Speaking on the significance of the Commonwealth, he said that the organisation’s role in the 20th century of helping countries emerge from colonial experience has changed in the 21st Century to a completely different role.“I think its role now is very much not London-centric but multi-centred,” he said. “It expresses a set of values that are around acceptance, moderation and respect for the rule of law.
“I’ve been a diplomat for 35 years now. I’ve never known the world a place where the rule of law has been more at risk than it is now, and that is because of the behaviour of a number of states, and it seems to me that a community of states that value the rule of law, that value proper purpose and proper process, that is more valuable than ever before, and that is what I think the role of the Commonwealth is in shaping attitudes in the 21st Century,” he shared.
On what part Brunei can play in the Commonwealth, Hitchens said, “If I look at the Commonwealth, more than two thirds of the Commonwealth members are what you call relatively small states, and yet, the perspectives of small states, be they Brunei, be they Saint Lucia, be they Vanuatu, all of them have a vote at the United Nations, all of them have perspective on what their regional interests are, and actually small states tend to want to work by the rule of law more than large states sometimes do, and so they can be a really effective voice for the case of the rule of law internationally. And because they tend not to throw their weight around, they can be states that speak with a persuasive power that some of the larger states don’t have.”
While in Brunei, Hitchens visited and had meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Speaking on these meetings, he said, “With the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which clearly is the key ministry in preparation for the summit, I ran through the four key challenges we’ve agreed upon. I ran through specific ways that the UK and Brunei are responding to those challenges, and things that we might work on between now and April in order to deliver specific things that we can announce in April on those four challenges, so we talked about that.
“We talked a little bit about the protocol, because these big events take quite a lot of organisation. I think Britain will do it very well but we need to liaise with people early on.
“At the Ministry of Education, we talked a lot about young people’s aspirations, particularly the connection between linking education and work opportunities, and this is an issue that is true across the Commonwealth. When I talk to my friends in Trinidad, when I talk to my friends in Samoa, they all talk about how you link what people to study with the job opportunities and how you make those connections.
“And with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, we talked very much about how we celebrate the role of the Commonwealth across the world and in young people’s lives. And we talked about a number of projects that we think might happen here in Brunei in the course of the next six or seven months that will link with the summit, as well as with the celebration of the Commonwealth in Malaysia two years later.”
Asked what his impression of Brunei has been, he said, “I think the country is a unique and valuable part of the Commonwealth family.
“There’s an enormous variety to the country, and I think some of the economic blessings that have come from the energy assets have been put to very good use in the country. So it’s remarkable, and I couldn’t think of another place like it, to be honest, anywhere in the world. It’s got a unique quality of its own.”
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