CLA News / The Commonwealth Gathers in Antigua & Barbuda: What CHOGM 2026 Means for CLA Members
This November, the attention of the Commonwealth family turns to St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, as Heads of Government from across the association’s 56 member states arrive for the 28th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), taking place from 1–4 November 2026. For the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, this biennial meeting is more than a diplomatic set-piece to watch from the sidelines. Our President and President-Elect will be on the ground throughout the week, taking part in the parallel Forums and the official Governance and Democracy side event, alongside CLA members from across the Commonwealth – with a strong showing expected from the Caribbean region.
A theme built around partnership and prosperity
CHOGM 2026 carries the theme “Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth.” The theme and accompanying logo – an abstract frigate bird symbolising freedom, strength and forward movement – were unveiled a year ahead of the summit at a launch ceremony in Antigua, jointly hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Cricketing legend Sir Vivian Richards was appointed CHOGM 2026 Envoy at the same event, and the launch deliberately brought together youth ambassadors, civil society and the private sector alongside government, reflecting the key stakeholder groups for the actual CHOGM. This summit is unapologetically built around trade and investment, and with a strong focus on making the Commonwealth more agile and results-oriented to counter global fragmentation and geopolitical strains.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, as CHOGM host and, following in the footsteps of Samoa, the next chair-in-office, has been explicit about what he wants the summit to achieve. Writing in the Telegraph[i] earlier this year, he argued that the Commonwealth’s real, underused asset is commercial rather than ceremonial: shared legal traditions, common language and institutional familiarity already make trade between member states measurably cheaper and more extensive than between otherwise comparable countries. His argument is that CHOGM should not be remembered only for the pageantry that surrounds it, but for whether it can turn that “Commonwealth Advantage” into tangible investment pipelines, reduced trade friction and easier movement for entrepreneurs and professionals across the network.
For a legal association, that framing is significant. Trade facilitation, regulatory alignment and the movement of professionals across borders are not abstract economic policy for CLA members. These are the day-to-day substance of commercial, corporate and regulatory practice across the Commonwealth. Where governments talk about reducing friction in cross-border business, lawyers are usually the ones drafting the instruments that make it real.
Rule of law still a vital Commonwealth theme
Trade and investment will dominate the formal agenda, but CLA’s own priorities – the independence of the legal profession, protection of the rule of law, and democratic governance – remain squarely represented in the CHOGM 2026 programme. The Commonwealth Secretary-General has framed the summit as addressing trade, democracy, climate resilience and inclusion together, rather than treating them as separate tracks, and the Secretariat’s new Strategic Plan for 2025–2030 is organised around three pillars: democratic, economic and climate resilience.
This is where CLA’s own delegation will be most active. The Democracy and Governance Parliamentary Forum, an official CHOGM side event led by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association together with the Antigua and Barbuda Parliament, takes place on Tuesday 3 November at the American University of Antigua. Its programme speaks directly to CLA’s own advocacy: the defence of democracy and the rule of law, addressing democratic backsliding, and the Latimer House Principles on the relationship between the three branches of government. This is territory the CLA has worked on consistently through its Rule of Law programme and its wider advocacy on protection of the legal profession.
CLA has been invited as a participating organisation, and we are pleased to confirm that our President Steven Thiru is expected to speak at the event. For members who have followed CLA’s work on judicial independence and the protection of lawyers, this is likely to be one of the most substantively important moments of the week. It also provides the chance to press the case for the rule of law directly to an audience of Heads, Foreign Ministers and sister Commonwealth institutions.
Engaging through the Forums, not just the Communiqué
It is worth explaining that advocacy has changed as part of CHOGM reforms agreed by Foreign Ministers last March. In previous cycles, accredited organisations like the CLA could present directly to the Committee of the Whole as the Leaders’ Communiqué was negotiated. That body has now been replaced by a Preparatory Committee process, through which capitals send senior officials with authority to negotiate on the ground. However, an equivalent in-person advocacy slot for accredited professional associations and civil society organisations is regrettably now missing from Commonwealth structures. The practical effect is that CLA’s most reliable channel to shape the substance and profile of CHOGM 2026 now runs through the four parallel Forums – Business, People’s, Women’s and Youth – and the official side events, rather than through the Communiqué drafting process itself.
That shift is part of why CLA’s in-person presence in the Forums this year matters. The Commonwealth Business Forum, held at Antigua’s Coolidge Cricket Ground from 2–4 November, will bring plenaries with Heads of Government, investor sessions and business-matching under the “Commonwealth Advantage” banner described by PM Browne. This provides a natural venue for CLA members with commercial and cross-border practices. The Commonwealth People’s Forum, organised by the Commonwealth Foundation, is building sessions around freedom of expression, economic inclusion and climate and environmental justice, themes that map closely onto CLA’s own work streams. The Women’s Forum will address gender equality, gender-based violence and the backlash against gender equality, building on a Commonwealth Secretariat gender report going before Heads. And the Youth Forum, running the full CHOGM week at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, offers CLA an opportunity to support younger members of the profession in the region to network in intergenerational dialogue with Heads of Government.
A summit close to home for Caribbean members
There is a particular resonance to this CHOGM for CLA’s Caribbean membership. Antigua and Barbuda’s hosting has been framed, by both the Prime Minister and the Secretary-General, as an opportunity to showcase small-state leadership on the Commonwealth stage. Several of the Forum themes, from the priorities of small and vulnerable states in climate and economic justice to engaging boys on violence against women, have been shaped with direct Caribbean input. CLA members from the region are expected to be well represented across the week, both in the Forums and in the wider networking that surrounds them, and the CLA Secretariat has been working with members of the Antigua & Barbuda Bar Association on the ground to explore opportunities for CLA direct involvement in sessions and to keep the delegation briefed as arrangements are finalised.
Future updates for members
In the coming months, we will share further detail with members on CLA’s specific participation across the Forums and side events, including how members can engage with sessions relevant to their own practice areas. For now, the headline message is that the CLA will have a real and active presence at CHOGM 2026, from the Business Forum floor to the Governance and Democracy Parliamentary Forum platform, carrying the Association’s long-standing advocacy on the rule of law, protection of the legal profession and democratic governance into the summit. Members attending CHOGM week in Antigua and Barbuda, whether as delegates to the Forums, side events or informally, are warmly encouraged to connect with the CLA Secretariat and with fellow members on the ground.
For further information on CHOGM, visit the official website at: https://chogm26.gov.ag/
Author: Helen Jones MBE, CLA Policy Adviser
Further updates on CLA’s CHOGM 2026 programme will follow in future newsletters.
[i] Browne, Gaston. “The Commonwealth’s greatest prize lies beyond the Games”. The Telegraph, 23 July 2026. Available from: telegraph.co.uk
