Final communiqué
Ottawa will be as significant as Singapore and probably as fiery, for the Commonwealth boasts some remarkably outstanding char- acters in its heads of state. Africa has real- ised that Mr Heath is a fact of life for the. next five years and Mr Heath doubtless reciprocates. tlis message for the future got across: we are not 'a court of appeal with a prescriptive right to sit in judgment on the policies and actions of members' but a 'body of friends brought together by history, free to come and go'. The other clear mes- sage from many members has been an expressed desire to move away from the UN type of childish publicity forum and printed speech handout, back to the older and unique Commonwealth style of informal and private meeting. As Lee Kuan Yew caustically remarked at his final press conference, 'con- stituents at home have to be considered therefore I sat up all night listening to their speeches'. Mr Trudeau, who effectively expan- ded his own prestige without a single set speech, is said to be tackling this question with the Secretariat, and his resourcefulness augurs well for summer 1973.
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