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COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
REGIONAL MEETING IN FIJI
Mr Fraser challenges
the media to cover
the 'heavy' issues
By COLIN BRAMMALL
THE PRIME MIN-
ISTER, Mr Fraser,
mocked a group of political
journalists last week for
their lack of interest in seri-
ous world affairs such as
the North-South dialogue
and the Fraser plan for
world economic recovery
by "challenging" them to
find something to interest
them in this week's Com-
monwealth Heads of Gov
ernment Regional Meeting
in Fiji.
On the face of it, the three
major topics of discussion in Fiji
- world and regional political
developments, world and
regional economic developments,
regional functional co-operation
- are very "heavy" subjects,
particularly for political journal-
ists normally fed on leadership
challenges, scandals and party
machinations.
Mr Fraser, one of the creators of
CHOGRMs, in association with a
former Prime Minister of India, Mr
Dcsai, regards the "heavy" subjects
as the major issues of the world
today and, as evidenced by his
"challenge", scorns those who show
no interest in them.
He went into a rage earlier this
year when a journalist travelling
with him on his visit to the US used
the expression "eye-glazing" to de-
scribe the North-South issue.
Mr Fraser appears to be planning
to seek at the Fiji CHOGRM a
regional consensus on his plan for
world economic recovery, which in
cludes a standstill on protection, an
international commitment to
abolishing export incentives, and
eventual reductions in all forms of
protection.
The hope, according to Australian
officials, is to add an extra, Asian
Pacific, weapon - however in
significant in the international com-
munity sense - for the battle over
Che plan.
The meeting will be the Com-
monwealth's first opportunity to look
at the report on protectionism com
missioned by CHOGM in Mel
bourne last year.
It also will have a look at another
report, on another of Mr Fraser's pet
international issues - obstacles to
North-South dialogue. This is a sub-
ject with which he gained attention
during his visit to China in August
when the Australian and Chinese
Governments agreed to co-operate at
United-Nations-delegation level to
try to remove obstacles.
Mr Fraser's main role, however,
will be as keynote speaker on "world
and regional political develop
ments". This probably will be his
most significant speech of the five
day gathering.
Other issues under the political
developments heading are expected
to include nuclear testing in the
Pacific, decolonisation, fishing and
the Law of the Sea convention, all
of which are of particular interest to
.Pacific nations - including Aus-
tralia - and also wider regional
subjects such as Afghanistan and
Kampuchea.
The meeting will be, basically, one
to review the results of the two
previous such meetings, in Sydney in
1978 and in New Delhi in 1980.
Of the 47 members of the Com
monwealth, 17 will be represented at
Suva, and seven of these are South
Pacific nations. The 17 are Aus
tralia, Bangladesh, Fiji, India,
Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Nau
ru, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Is
lands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Vanuatu and Western Samoa.
All but two will be represented by
heads of Government.
India, with Australia a creator of
CHOGRMs in 1977 but whose rela
tions with Fiji have soured in recent
weeks, will be sending its Foreign
Minister, Mr Narasinha Rao. .
There was no suggestion, Aus
tralian officials said, that the failure
to attend by the Prime Minister, Mrs
Gandhi, indicated a loss of interest
in the regional grouping, even
though it was her predecessor, Mr
Desai, who combined with Mr
Fraser to instigate CHOGRM.
It definitely did not put the future
of CHOGRM at risk, although they
were not able to say which, if any,
countries had expressed any interest
in being host for the next meeting,
in two years' time.
Sri Lanka, which is going into an
election campaign, will be sending
only "senior officials".
The Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Dr Mahathir, who declined to attend
the CHOGM meeting in Melbourne
last year because it was too far down
his list of priorities immediately
after an election, will be leading the
discussion on what he apparently
considers the most important issue,
regional functional co-operation.
Australian officials understand
that Dr Mahathir wishes to make a
major statement on the subject,
which will take up more of the
attention of the Heads of Govern
ment than it has in the previous two
meetings because all the decisions
for action at those meetings are to
be reviewed.
The decisions were to set up study
groups on trade, energy, terrorism
and illegal drugs (out of the Sydney
CHOGRM) and agricultural re
search and industry (out of New
Delhi).
The two most-contentious issues,
terrorism and drugs, have been
dropped by the Commonwealth.
The official reason is that while
Mr Fraser: planning to seek a regional consensus. Help
Mr Fraser: planning to seek a
regional consensus.
their work had been of "some use",
they were likely to duplicate the
work of larger interaational bodies
and their efforts will be wound up
in Fiji.
The Prime Minister of New Zea
land, Mr Muldoon, will be keynote
speaker on the economic talks and
is expected to elaborate on his sug
gestion for a "new Bretton Woods"
agreement, the 1940s international
agreement which tied exchange
rates to the value of gold and the US
dollar, which collapsed in the early
1970s and resulted in the current
system of floating currencies.
Discussion on the Law of the Sea.
on which most of the CHOGRM
countries have broad agreement, will
seek to establish a consensus for
much the same reasons as one is
being sought on the world economic
recovcry plan, but the intention is to
put a little Asian-Pacific pressure on
the US, which has refused to agree
to the draft.
Mr Fraser is planning to make
some announcements in Fiji, involv-
ing commitments of Australian
money, but no details are available
yet.
One of the unofficial subjects at
the meeting will be the timing of
Pakistan's re-entry into the Com-
monwealth.
$