Nations with limited issues got modest gains: Hamid Ansari

Amid talk of CHOGM failing to usher in reforms, India today said countries who came to the Perth summit with limited set of issues like institutional reform had to settle for "modest results".

"There was an expectation in some quarters that the summit would address only one set of issues, which is like turning the table upside down, and focus only on institutional reforms," Vice President Hamid Ansari told reporters who travelled with him to Perth for CHOGM.

"Now, those who started with these kind of agenda had to settle for modest results," he said when asked whether the Commonweatlh Heads of Government Meeting, which concluded yesterday, had failed to deliver on reforms.

A small but influential section of Commonwealth was pressing for institutional reform, like setting up a human rights commissioner for the 54-nation organisation.

The proposal for a commissioner was strongly opposed by a majority of countries, who wanted the Commonwealth to focus on development agenda rather than create new institutions.

Ansari also expressed satisfaction over reappointment of seasoned Indian diplomat Kamalesh Sharma for a further four-year term as the Commonwealth Secretary General.

He said the public focus on institutional reform came into focus when the 2009 CHOGM commissioned a 11-member Eminent Persons Group, chaired by former Malaysian Premier Abduallah Badawi, to give a report to make the organisation relevant in current times.

The report of the EPG reached the member nations only by mid-September and the leaders had little time to analyse it.

"As different countries were in the process of assessing the report, some countries wanted instant reactions on that report and this was not the viewpoint we and many other countries thought was appropriate," Ansari said.

He said if any member goes to a meeting with a maximum agenda which is self-defined and then say it was not achieved is "self delusion and nothing more than that."

Ansari pointed out that the Commonwealth had worked for six decades on a slow, gradual, incremental process and by developing consensus.

"It (Commonwealth) is not a UN body where you take decisions on issues through a vote," he said.

"I am satisfied that we have retained the focus, retained the balance and obtained what we came to this meeting for," said the Vice President, who was standing in for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the CHOGM.

Ansari said India had attained its goals set for the summit at its views on food security, international terrorism, gender equality and Least Developed Countries found mention in the Joint Communique.

Delegates who attended the deliberations spread over the last week said a clear north-south divide was visible in the meeting with a handful but influential countries trying to focus on institutional reforms while others bringing them back to the development agenda.

A number of African leaders said that they were strident in their opposition to the EPG proposal of a setting up a human rights commissioner by reallocating funds of other "outdated" programmes of the Commonwealth.