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1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

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8th Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Host country United Kingdom
Dates27 June–6 July 1956
CitiesLondon
Participants9
ChairSir Anthony Eden
(Prime Minister)
Follows1955
Precedes1957
Key points
British bases in Ceylon, Cyprus, Cold War

The 1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the eighth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in June 1956, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden.

The new prime minister of Ceylon, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike pressured Eden to remove British military bases in Ceylon; Britain agreed to close the installations.[1]

In international affairs, the leaders expressed their support for the People's Republic of China and Japan being admitted to the United Nations (see China and the United Nations)[2][1] and welcomed liberalization in the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev hailing the "significant changes" in Soviet domestic and foreign policy as being positive steps for world peace.[1][3] British attempts to negotiate a diplomatic settlement over Greek and Turkish claims regarding the soon to be independent British colony of Cyprus were also discussed.[4]

Participants

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Nation Name Portfolio
 United Kingdom Sir Anthony Eden Prime Minister (Chairman)
 Australia Robert Menzies Prime Minister
 Canada Louis St. Laurent Prime Minister
 Ceylon Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Prime Minister
 India Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister
 New Zealand Sidney Holland Prime Minister
 Pakistan Chaudhri Muhammad Ali Prime Minister
 Rhodesia and Nyasaland Godfrey Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern Prime Minister
South Africa South Africa Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom Prime Minister

[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "St. Petersburg Times – Google News Archive Search".
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "The Age – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  4. ^ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune – Google News Archive Search".
  5. ^ "1956: The prime ministers of the Commonwealth attend a meeting at Number 10, Downing Street, London | Flickr – Photo Sharing!". Flickr. 27 June 1956. Retrieved 12 November 2013.