The Commonwealth Secretariat this year celebrates 50 years since it was established, and on 25 June will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the day in 1965 on which Arnold Smith assumed office as the first Secretary-General.
The decision to establish the Secretariat had been taken a year before at a meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London to carry forward the innovative suggestion of setting up an impartial, independent, intergovernmental 'central clearing house.' It was to be 'a visible symbol of the spirit of co-operation which animates the Commonwealth' with core values of commitment to racial equality, individual liberty, democratic self-determination, eradication of economic inequality, world peace and international cooperation.
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