Commonwealth leaders have closed their summit talks in Malta with a final communiqué on trade, terrorism and dozens of other topics. The group of 53 governments is made up mostly of former British colonies. Reporter Kelvin Lewis told Voice of America reporter William Eagle that Commonwealth Secretary-General Don Mckinnon said he hopes the European Union will heed the summit’s call to cut farm subsidies. The group says it wants what it calls "a fairer deal on world trade" at next month's World Trade Organization summit in Hong Kong.
Commonwealth leaders will meet next in 2007 in Uganda –despite some members’ concerns about the Ugandan government’s recent arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on charges of treason and support for terrorism.