Commonwealth Day in Finland

How many Finns know when Commonwealth Day is or how many countries there are in the Commonwealth?

After this year's events in Helsinki to mark Commonwealth Day, we hope that we have made at least a few more people in Finland aware of the answers to these questions and increased their appreciation of the significance of the modern Commonwealth...

Commonwealth Day 2002 had a special importance, as this year also marks Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 50th anniversary as Head of the Commonwealth. We took this opportunity to publicise the work of this unique organisation of 54 diverse nations to people in Finland.

On the eve of Commonwealth Day, the British Ambassador to Finland, Alyson Bailes hosted a party at her Residence for Heads of Mission and Honorary Consuls from Common-
wealth countries resident in Helsinki and Finnish contacts from the fields of media, commerce, politics, academia and culture. The centrepiece of the event was a film charting the history of the Commonwealth over the last 50 years with emphasis on the role the modern Commonwealth is playing in 21st Century global politics and in improving the quality of life for many throughout the world.

Along with colleagues from Canada (Carmen Boudreau-Kiviaho) and South Africa (Charles Keepile), British Embassy (Victoria Harrison) officials also gave a talk on the Commonwealth to 50 students at Ressun Lukio in Helsinki.

We outlined the significance the modern-day Common-
wealth had in our respective countries and described its current work including the consensual role it had played in the recent elections in Zimbabwe. We finished with a productive question and answer session in which the students asked some challenging questions, including on the future direction of the Commonwealth when Prince Charles becomes King and what we found best about our own countries and Finland. Overall, the students seemed to enjoy the session and we certainly enjoyed meeting them.

By Victoria Harrison, Press Officer, British Embassy