THE COMMONWEALTH Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was declared open by the head of the 54-nation Commonwealth organization Queen Elizabeth II in Perth, Australia on Friday with the theme being 'Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience'. In the wake of the European finance crisis, the Queen urged participating nations to remain fresh and fit for tomorrow and lay special emphasis in the area of food security, finance, climate change and trade.

As Australian PM Julia Gillard made her maiden speech as the chair, some other key speakers also included Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and outgoing chair and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, reported The Times of India.

Recalling the Queen’s tag of the Commonwealth nations being the original world wide web, General Secretary Sharma urged the nations to understand their potential in transforming into a 21^st century network. In her short speech, the Queen hoped that apart from the results being positive and enduring, the partnership will also have a considerable global impact. The Australian PM asked the heads representing nations to be the agents of change just the way Mahatma Gandhi and Desmond Tutu were and focussed on the adage as the world changes, a wise institution changes.

The Indian delegation, which is also the largest Commonwealth nation with a standalone population of over 60 per cent of the entire population of Commonwealth group of nations, will be headed by Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pulled out of the event without citing a reason.