Clause 2 - Commonwealth: provision in connection with Cameroon and Mozambique
Commonwealth Bill
11:45 am
Mr David Willetts (Havant, Conservative)
The clause is very different from clause 1, which deals with the Commonwealth Institute, but they have in common the purpose of further strengthening the Commonwealth, to which Cameroon and Mozambique were formally admitted in 1995. I am sure that hon. Members on both sides of the Committee welcomed that decision. However, some tidying up remains to be done so that various Acts are amended to record that those countries are to be treated as Commonwealth countries. That is long overdue, given that they have been welcome members of the Commonwealth for seven years.
The provisions amend the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957 to include Cameroon and Mozambique in the definitions of ''Commonwealth force'' and ''Commonwealth country''. They also amend other provisions so that the forces of Cameroon and Mozambique can be treated as visiting forces from a Commonwealth country under those statutes.