Queen Elizabeth calls on Commonwealth member states to take action on plastic waste

Queen Elizabeth II opened a biennial summit of the British-led Commonwealth on Thursday, as the host nation urged the 53 member states to take action to cut plastic pollution.
“We are one of the great convening powers… and we seem to by growing stronger year by year,” the queen
told the 53 heads of government, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She highlighted Commonwealth initiatives including a “blue charter” to protect the marine environment,
saying the British royal family was “proud to play a part” in them.
The queen also urged Commonwealth leaders to make her son, Prince Charles, the group’s next head, amid expectation that the 53 leaders will discuss succession on Friday.
“It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity to future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales [Prince Charles] should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the queen, 91, told the leaders at the opening of a biennial summit.
Earlier, May paid tribute to the queen’s “service and dedication” to the Commonwealth, which Elizabeth has headed since 1952.
“You have been true to the deepest values of the Commonwealth – that the voice of the smallest member country
is worth precisely as much as that of the largest; that the wealthiest and the most vulnerable stand
shoulder to shoulder​,” May said in a speech.
“For your service, for your dedication, for your constancy – we thank you.”
May earlier urged the other nations at the two-day summit to follow Britain’s plan to end the sale of plastic
straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
“Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the
marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting,” she said.
Most of the 53 states in the Commonwealth, which was formed in 1949, were once ruled directly or indirectly
by Britain.
The summit, which was originally to be hosted by Vanuatu at the end of 2017, was moved to the UK as Vanuatu was no longer able to host the event due to the damage done by Cyclone Pam to the island nation’s infrastructure.
The meeting was postponed to the spring of 2018 due to other international commitments.
The position of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, held by the government leader of the CHOGM host country, will be transferred at the summit from the Prime Minister of Malta to the Prime Minister of the UK who will hold the post until the 26th CHOGM expected in 2020.
The theme of the summit is “Towards a Common Future”.
The British hosts have set out four main goals for the summit.
These are  prosperity: boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment security: increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organised crime and cyber attacks fairness: promoting democracy.
Others are fundamental freedoms and good governance across the Commonwealth sustainability: building the resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with the effects of climate change and other global crises
Under consideration will bea Commonwealth Blue Charter on ocean governance, a Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment, a declaration on cybercrime, and revised Commonwealth guidelines on election observation in member countries.[
This will be the first CHOGM held following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, a decision which has resulted in calls for Britain to strengthen its economic ties with and play a greater role in the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth currently is responsible for one-tenth of British trade compare to the EU with which the UK currently conducts half of its trade.
Intra-Commonwealth  trade, overall, is expected to increase by at least 17 per cent  around  700 billion dollars by 2020.
The summit ends on Friday.