Kampala, November 24
India today scored a major victory when Commonwealth Heads of Government at their meeting here decided to choose New Delhi’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom Kamlesh Sharma as the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been taking part in important deliberations here for the past two days, expressed happiness over Sharma’s selection, saying “he (Sharma) will acquit himself well in his higher responsibilities as the first servant of the entire Commonwealth”.
The decision by a consensus was arrived at after several meetings during the retreat on the banks of Lake Victoria. Sharma received an overwhelming
support
from a majority of the Commonwealth-member states and after that Maltese foreign minister Michael Frendo who was also in the race withdrew his candidature. India received support from African countries and the UK initially, but after consultations other countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand also supported Sharma.This is for the first time that an Indian has become the secretary-general of the Commonwealth as a bid by former foreign secretary Jagat Mehta in 1985 had failed. Sharma (66) who would assume charge on April 1, 2008, is at present India ‘s high commissioner in London and has been India’s representative on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth since 2004.
Addressing the Indian media along with minister of state of external affairs Anand Sharma, Kamlesh Sharma outlined his priorities for the new assignment, saying he would like to focus on areas of growth, social agenda and governance.
The secretary-general- elect said he would strive to achieve a balance between growth and development so that visible prosperity could be achieved for all citizens and people of all member-states.
The minister of state for external affairs expressed satisfaction at Sharma’s selection and said, “It is a very special day.
A product of St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and King’s College, Cambridge, Sharma has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service. He has served as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva where he was the spokesman for developing countries in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He later became permanent representative of India to the United Nations in New York during the Uruguay round of trade negotiations (1996-2001).
During his tenure in New York, he chaired the working group on financing for development, the success of which led to the “Monterrey Consensus” between the North and the South. He was also closely involved in the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals.
