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Deferring Commonwealth meet understandable: Canada

Ajit Jain in Toronto

Canada agreed with the decision taken by Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon to postpone the Commonwealth Summit that was due to be held in Brisbane, Australia, in November, a spokesman of the Minister for Foreign Affairs John Manley said on Friday.

Sanjeev Chhowdhury said, "We are disappointed that the Commonwealth leaders' meeting will not go ahead as planned, but we understand the decision to postpone it."

At a time when the social and economic impact of September 11 events were being felt across the Commonwealth and leaders were reluctant to be away from home, there was obviously no other alternative but to postpone the meeting, he said.

Some reports from Australia claimed that Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were reluctant to travel to Australia at this critical juncture and it was their hesitation that led to the postponement of the summit..

Chowdhury, however, said, "The decision was made on the basis of consultations across the commonwealth with different leaders."

"We understand that while the new date has not been finalised, the government has proposed that the summit should go ahead in Brisbane, perhaps in the first quarter of 2002," he said.

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