Commonwealth of Nations
The purpose of the Commonwealth is consultation and cooperation. The sovereign members retain full authority in all domestic and foreign affairs, although Britain generally enjoys a traditional position of leadership in certain matters of mutual interest. There are economic ties in the fields of trade, investment, and development programs for new nations. A set of trade agreements (begun at the Ottawa Conference in 1932) between Britain and the other members gave preferential tariff treatment to many raw materials and manufactured goods that the Commonwealth nations sell in Britain, but the system of preferential tariffs was abandoned after Britain's entry into the European Community (now the European Union ) in 1973. Periodically there are meetings of Commonwealth heads of government, but no collective decision made at these meetings is considered binding. In 1965 a Commonwealth secretariat was established, with headquarters in London.
See also British Empire .
See J. D. B. Miller, The Commonwealth in the World (3d ed. 1965) N. Mansergh, The Commonwealth Experience (1969) W. R. Louis, The British Empire in the Middle East (1986) The Commonwealth Office Yearbook (annual, from 1987) R. J. Moore, Making the New Commonwealth (1987).