Conclusion: Agenda for the 1990s

Abstract

After the bad press of the past decade, the 1990s opened auspiciously for the Commonwealth. The first major event was the Fourteenth Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. The largest of the series yet to be held; free from apartheid-related boycotts and other unfortunate incidents, they were, nevertheless, organized successfully by one of the smaller member countries. Informality was combined with efficiency and spectacle. Above all it was a popular event. The Games were re-affirmed as the great festival of the Commonwealth of peoples. They were also associated with the Fourth Commonwealth Arts Festival, the Fourth World Polynesian Outrigger Canoe Championships and the Ninth Commonwealth Conference on Physical Education, Sport, Health, Dance, Recreation and Leisure. The annual meetings of the Commonwealth Trust were also held in Wellington shortly afterwards as was the Fifth Conference of Commonwealth Arts Administrators. In this sense January 1990 encapsulated the two most significant agenda items for the new decade — the projection of the Commonwealth among the peoples of the member countries, and the attempt to achieve a fuller sybiosis of the voluntary and unofficial Commonwealth with the established political structure.