Blair Hails Commonwealth as Global Pillar at Summit

British Prime Minister Tony Blair opened a Commonwealth summit Friday by calling on its members to raise the banners of democracy and economic freedom around the world.

As the 54-nation grouping of mainly former British possessions faced criticism for its reluctance to punish Nigeria for flouting human rights, Blair told leaders representing a quarter of the globe that the Commonwealth was needed more than ever today.

“I am a passionate believer in the Commonwealth,” Blair told the first summit of the group to be held in Britain in 20 years. “It is a global community of nations. An organization of moral principle and enduring values that provides stability in a more dangerous world order. . . .

“Our task is to be bridge-builders between the developed and developing world, to advance the future--the time when there is one world, a developed one in which all nations share.”

Blair wants the Commonwealth to make better use of its common language and customs to forge closer economic ties. The member states already account for 20% of global trade.

Just as the Commonwealth grounded its commitment to democracy and human rights in a declaration at its Harare, Zimbabwe, summit in 1991, Blair said he hoped that the four-day Edinburgh meeting would produce an economic declaration setting out agreed rights and objectives.

But the difficulty in steering by what Blair called the Commonwealth’s “strong moral compass” was underlined when diplomats said Ghana would refuse to impose all the sanctions being considered against Nigeria if it fails to meet an ultimatum to restore democracy within a year.

Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth during the group’s 1995 summit in New Zealand for executing nine minority rights activists, and the Edinburgh summit is likely to threaten further punishment if the African nation’s military government continues to delay long-promised reforms.

In a break with tradition, the opening session was also addressed by the head of the Commonwealth, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who recalled that in the year of her coronation, 1953, only eight prime ministers attended its meeting.