The Gambia Ambassador Francis Blain has presented Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland with a formal application to re-enter the Commonwealth, marking the final step of the country’s bid
The Gambia Ambassador Francis Blain has presented Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland with a formal application to re-enter the Commonwealth, marking the final step of the country’s bid.
Ambassador Blain and his Deputy attended a meeting at Marborough House on January 24, 2018 to carry out the presentation.
With the formal application now submitted, the Secretary-General will begin the next step in the process and will assess whether existing member countries agree to the bid.
Consensus must be given by Heads of Government of Commonwealth nations.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1997, members agreed that an applicant should match a certain criteria, including having had a constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth member, that the country should submit to Commonwealth values, priorities and principles set out in the Harare Declaration, and that it should accept the norms and conventions of the Commonwealth.
The Gambia became a Commonwealth member following independence in 1965.
President Yahya Jammeh unilaterally withdrew the country from the Commonwealth in 2013, with the decision to apply for readmission made by President Barrow in February 2017 following his election in December 2016.
