Commonwealth nations celebrate 75-year milestone

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) Today, 56 of the world’s largest countries and smallest islands, across six oceans, continue to stand united and celebrate the shared values for Commonwealth Day.

Commonwealth Day is traditionally celebrated on the second Monday in March. The theme for this year’s Commonwealth Day and the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth’.

More than 56 nations will celebrate the occasion throughout this week, with representatives attending an event at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London.

This year’s staging is especially significant as the modern Commonwealth will celebrate its 75th anniversary in April.

At a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' meeting in London on April 26, 1949, the London Declaration said that republics and other independent countries could be equal members of the Commonwealth. Thus, the modern Commonwealth of Nations was born.

King Charles III said in his Commonwealth Day video message: “The Commonwealth family is strongest when we are connected through friendship. As I have said before, the Commonwealth is like the wiring of a house, and its people, our energy and our ideas are the current that runs through those wires.

"Together and individually, we are strengthened by sharing perspectives and experiences, and by offering and borrowing the myriad ways we have each tackled the challenges of our time.”

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland KC, emphasised the value, power, and potential of the Commonwealth family in her Commonwealth Day address.

“Together, we have built a Commonwealth which is fit for the times we live in -- stronger, more connected and more influential than ever; capable of rising to the world’s challenges, innovating to seize new opportunities, and working together to shape a more peaceful, resilient and prosperous common future.”

Throughout the world, civic events, educational activities, and cultural gatherings will take place to celebrate Commonwealth Day.

The Commonwealth nations will come together later this year in October for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, which will be the first small island developing state from the Pacific to host the CHOGM.