1957 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

April 2022 January 2017 9th Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference 26 June–5 July 1957 London 10 Heads of Government Harold Macmillan(Prime Minister) 1956 1960 Commonwealth trade relations, European Economic Community, Suez Crisis, Hungarian Revolution of 1956, disarmament The 1957 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the ninth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in June 1957, and was hosted by British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. The new Canadian prime minister, John Diefenbaker, proposed the intensification of trade relations within the Commonwealth. His calls for an Empire Trade Conference were resisted by the British government, which had an eye towards the UK developing stronger trade relations with Europe and the newly formed European Economic Community; the impact of the UK joining a European free trade area and its possible consequences on Commonwealth trade were a matter of concern, with a Commonwealth Trade and Economic Conference being called for the next year. The aftermath of the Suez Crisis and invasion of Hungary of the previous year were also discussed, with the Commonwealth leaders calling for the strengthening of the United Nations as an instrument of peace. The Suez Crisis had badly split the Commonwealth resulting in India, Pakistan and Ceylon considering leaving the organisation; Canadian External Affairs Minister Lester Pearson told the Canadian House of Commons that the Commonwealth faced dissolution over Suez.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZyNVAAAAIBAJ&pg=4037,2022267&dq=commonwealth&hl=en Archived copy 2015-06-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20160404023625/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZyNVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bIADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4037,2022267&dq=commonwealth&hl=en 2016-04-04 dead https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0-9QAAAAIBAJ&pg=6411,47693&dq=pearson+commonwealth&hl=en Archived copy 2015-06-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20160422152305/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0-9QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nSUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6411,47693&dq=pearson+commonwealth&hl=en 2016-04-22 dead Multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations were also discussed. This was the first Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference attended by Ghana, which had attained independence in March 1957. Participants Nation Name Portfolio United Kingdom Harold Macmillan Prime Minister (Chairman) Australia Robert Menzies Prime Minister Canada 1957 John Diefenbaker Prime Minister Ceylon M. W. H. de Silva Minister of Justice and Leader of the Senate Ghana Kwame Nkrumah Prime Minister India Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister New Zealand Tom Macdonald Minister of External Affairs and Defence Pakistan Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Prime Minister Rhodesia and Nyasaland Sir Roy Welensky Prime Minister South Africa 1928 South Africa Eric Louw Minister of External Affairs References Category:1957 in London 1957 Category:Diplomatic conferences in the United Kingdom Category:1950s diplomatic conferences Category:1957 in international relations Category:1957 conferences Category:June 1957 in the United Kingdom Category:July 1957 in the United Kingdom Category:1950s in the City of Westminster Category:Harold Macmillan Category:Robert Menzies Category:Premiership of John Diefenbaker Category:Kwame Nkrumah Category:Jawaharlal Nehru