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- Association of States reunited freely by their allegiance in the British Crown. Expression " Commonwealth of Nations " was used for the first time during the imperial conference of 1926 to indicate " the association of the autonomous communities consisted of Great Britain and its Dominions ", status confirmed by that of Westminster ( 1931 ). Commonwealth gathers 54 sovereign nations and several dependent territories. The independent States are Great Britain, Antigua-et-Barbuda, Australia, the Bahama Islands, Bangladesh, the Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominique, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, the Maldive Islands, Malta, the Mauritius, Mozambique (the only country not to be an ancient British colony), Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, New Zealand, Uganda, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, islands Salomon, Samoa-Occidentales, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, islands Tonga, Trinidad-et-Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The South African Union (today Republic of South Africa) withdrew from the Commonwealth in 1961, but reinstated it in 1994. Pakistan left Commonwealth in 1972, but reinstated it in 1989. Fiji which had withdrawn from it in 1987 reinstated it in 1997. The republic of Ireland is associated to it economically but is not member of it. India was the first member country to become a republic ( 1949 ) while staying within the Commonwealth, creating so the precedent which has since summer followed with former numerous British colonies. Since 1995, Nigeria is suspended because of military dictatorship. Relations between Great Britain and other member countries of the Commonwealth are assured with Foreign and Commonwealth office (Desk of Foreign affairs and Commonwealth), based in London, and with Foreign Ministry of each of the nations. Member countries exchange high commissioners, whose status is equivalent to that of the ambassadors. The secretariat in the Commonwealth, established in 1965, is of use of organ of transmission of general information to member countries and assists the various existing agencies in the promotion of the cooperation within the Commonwealth. In the countries which have not their own leader of State, British sovereign power is represented by a governor general. Commonwealth is not endowed with any political organ. Only official political consultations are constituted by the periodic meetings during which the Prime Ministers of the governments members meet themselves to evoke their common problems.
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