Just over a year ago, on 11 July 2013 to be exact, I wrote a contribution to the Malta Independent in which I argued that Malta could make better use of its Commonwealth membership. A year ago, I felt I could argue that following the flurry of activities related to the CHOGM 2005, and the 2007 unsuccessful bid by Dr Michael Frendo, former Foreign Minister, for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General, Commonwealth issues had practically disappeared from Malta's political debate. A year ago, I believed that most of Malta's on-going activities within the Commonwealth remained politically understated.

In July 2013, I felt justified in calling upon the Government to fulfil its electoral pledge of making better use of the framework offered by the Commonwealth to promote Malta as an ideal partner in Europe and in the Mediterranean for countries in other continents.  I appealed for a concerted effort involving our ministers, parliamentarians, and diplomats, directed from the highest level, so that Malta would take full advantage of the network of bilateral and multilateral relations resulting from its Commonwealth membership.

I cannot, even in my daydreams, ever pretend that this appeal has shaken the Government into action or that my simple contribution had been picked up and duly considered by Government policy makers. However, there is a startling contrast between July 2013 and July 2014 with regard to the importance of the  Commonwealth to the Government's agenda. Indeed, since my contribution of July 2013, one can point to a series of diplomatic activities intended to prepare the way for a major role for Malta within the Commonwealth community.

The first major Commonwealth event that presented itself to the new Government was the 59th meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which was held in Johannesburg from 28 August to 6 September 2013. Malta was represented by a high level delegation from the House of Representatives which was led by the Speaker, Dr Anglu Farrugia, and included the whips of both parties, Mr Carmelo Abela and Dr David Agius.

Soon afterwards Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took the opportunities offered by the 68th session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which opened on 17 September 2013. In New York he discussed with Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma an enhanced role for Malta in this organisation, in particular the possibility that Malta would be among the leading countries in a Commonwealth initiative for setting up a financial institution intended to create export opportunities for small enterprises. He stressed his government's strong political support to Commonwealth actions that would guarantee education, training and employment for youths.

The Government's intention to put Malta's Commonwealth membership back among its top priorities was confirmed at the controversial CHOGM held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in mid-November 2013. This was the Prime Minister's first Commonwealth Summit, and he clearly intended both to learn and to excel during the three-day meeting of Heads of Government.

The climax came at the closing session when Malta was unanimously chosen to host the next CHOGM in 2015.  No other country had been asked to host the biennial Commonwealth Summit at such short notice and so soon after hosting CHOGM a mere ten years earlier. To Malta's credit the unanimous decision was taken because Malta could guarantee a stable and non confrontational political environment, and was seen as capable of acting as honest broker between the conflicting interests of a number of Commonwealth members.

In a public lecture delivered at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 21 July 2014, the Prime Minister said that he had learnt a number of lessons from his first CHOGM experience. One of the things that surprised him was the absence of a condescending approach by representatives of the British Government. He also noticed that smaller countries looked at the Commonwealth as a means for cultivating their relationship with the United Kingdom and some other global players. What particularly struck him was the lack of interest in a genuine multilateral debate on overarching Commonwealth issues because most Heads of Government were more interest in pursuing bilateral relations.

The Prime Minister is attaching such importance to the preparations for CHOGM 2015, that he spent a whole week, beginning on 21 July, in London and Glasgow meeting leading Commonwealth personalities and giving speeches brimming with ideas on how to make the Commonwealth relevant to today's generation and to today's economic and geopolitical realities. 

Learning from his experience of the Colombo 2013 CHOGM, the Prime Minister is encouraging his Commonwealth colleagues to “do less finger pointing and tone down the blame game”. This would clear the air for a healthy and constructive debate on the role of the United Kingdom in the Commonwealth, and in particular on human rights, rule of law and good governance issues.

Once the air is clear, the Prime Minister wants to have a fruitful multilateral debate on Commonwealth and global issues. To encourage a multilateral approach to CHOGM, he is suggesting that governments, especially those of smaller and peripheral members, should be assisted by the Commonwealth Secretariat, to pursue their bilateral relations between CHOGMs and not during CHOGMs. He is also proposing that Commonwealth Heads of Government would meet informally on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly to generate more personal chemistry and coordinate their positions on global issues.

At a more radical level, the Prime Minister is proposing an existential debate on the future of the Commonwealth, making the 2015 CHOGM “a watershed event in providing an opportunity for Commonwealth leaders to discuss important issues that impinge on the lives of all Commonwealth citizens”. The future relevance of the Commonwealth should be built on a Commonwealth agenda committed to economic growth, expansion of trade and job creation. One concrete project in which Malta intends to play a leading role is the setting up of a Commonwealth Trade Financing Facility to assist states in need of finance to kick start their economic development.

At CHOGM 2015 Malta intends to challenge recalcitrant and self-centred Commonwealth members to implement structural reforms that “look to the future rather than the past”, and that will transform the Commonwealth into an efficient organisation, guaranteeing to its 2.27 billion people full democratic and civil liberties, better health, better education and more employment opportunities.