Style His Excellency Formation 1965 | Inaugural holder Tilak E. Gooneratne | |
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Appointer Commonwealth Heads of Government Term length 3 years, renewable once Website www.thecommonwealth.org | ||
Three Commonwealth Deputy Secretaries-General assist the Secretary-General in running the Commonwealth Secretariat, which is the central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. They are assigned an aspect of the Commonwealth's function to address particularly: one to economic affairs, one to political affairs and the other to corporate affairs.
They are elected by the Commonwealth Heads of Government, like the Secretary-General. However, as their terms overlap with those of the Secretary-General, and don't coincide with Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs), the Heads of Government are represented through their respective High Commissioners in London. Originally, the Secretariat only engaged two Deputy Secretaries-General, whilst the Corporate Affairs portfolio was overseen by an Assistant Secretary-General. This changed in 2014 with the appointment of Gary Dunn from Australia to the post.
In addition to Dunn, the two Deputy Secretaries-General are Deodat Maharaj for Economic Affairs and Development from Trinidad and Tobago and Josephine Ojiambo for Political Affairs from Kenya since 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Political Affairs
1 Initially served from 1977 to 1983, leaving his post for a few months to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria. He was re-instated later that year.