1969 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference


The 1969 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the 17th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in January 1969, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Five newly independent member countries participated for the first time: Botswana, Barbados, Lesotho, Mauritius and Swaziland.
On the issue of the rogue colony of Rhodesia, Britain re-committed itself to the policy of No independence before majority rule which it had adopted at the last Prime Ministers' conference in September 1966.
Also discussed was the Biafra crisis in Nigeria and discrimination against South Asian communities living in Africa and Black and Asian immigrants living in the UK.

Participants

The following nations were represented:
NationNamePosition
Harold Wilson Prime Minister
John GortonPrime Minister
Errol BarrowPrime Minister
Sir Seretse KhamaPresident
Pierre TrudeauPrime Minister
Dudley SenanayakePrime Minister
Makarios IIIPresident
Sir Dawda JawaraPrime Minister
John Willie Kofi HarlleyDeputy Chairman, National Liberation Council
Forbes BurnhamPrime Minister
Indira GandhiPrime Minister
Hugh ShearerPrime Minister
James GichuruMinister of Finance
Leabua JonathanPrime Minister
Hastings BandaPresident
Tunku Abdul RahmanPrime Minister
Giorgio Borġ OlivierPrime Minister
Sir Seewoosagur RamgoolamPrime Minister
Keith HolyoakePrime Minister
Obafemi AwolowoFederal Commissioner for Finance
Mian Arshad HussainMinister for Foreign Affairs
Siaka StevensPrime Minister
Lee Kuan YewPrime Minister
Makhosini DlaminiPrime Minister
Julius NyererePresident
Eric WilliamsPrime Minister
Milton ObotePrime Minister
Kenneth KaundaPresident