EDINBURGH, Oct 24: Prime Minister IK Gujral, speaking at the inauguration of the Commonwealth Heads Of Governments Meet (CHOGM) conference in Edinburgh, made it clear that India and other developing countries did not want to be pushed into accepting an economic agenda set by the closed club of developed countries.He laid the responsibility for sustainable global economic development on ``the restricted chambers of the international economic system'', from which he said, ``equal opportunity and democracy are often absent.''The CHOGM conference this year hopes to conclude with an economic declaration that paves the way to ``Commonwealth prosperity''. Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair has made this the goal towards which he hopes to steer this CHOGM. In his speech, which appeared to echo the feelings of a majority of Commonwealth members, Gujral, set out what clearly divides the poorer and richer nations of this association.He said: ``Many developing countries are being asked to adjust to the process of globalisation at a pace and in conditions that are not of their choosing.globalisation will succeed only if it is equitable and just.and is so seen by the vast majority of mankind.''The conference began this afternoon with a muted show of British pageantry, kilted pipers played heads of government into conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The procession was led by Tony Blair and the Queen. Gujral, who was the only head of government asked to address the gathering, apart from Blair, walked behind Nelson Mandela.Blair's attempt to re-invent the Commonwealth in the image of new-Labour was obvious in the choice of music - fusion percussion, modern and tinkly. The most new-Labour feature of the inauguration was the audio-visual presentation: an over-long commercial for Britain, which if you could get a hang of the complicated overlapping visuals, is at the cutting edge of everything from computer technology to fashion.Outside the conference venue protestors, holding up the flags for ``democracy and good governance'', ``secessionism and independence,'' protested mostly silently behind the barricades across the road. A scattering of pro-democracy Nigerians, some Kenyans, a handful of Kashmiris and `Khalistanis' and a rather bigger bunch of Bangladesh National Party supporters.A group of `Eelam Tamil' groups travelled up to Edinburgh on a specially charted train, and a move to raise a flag of Eelam alongside a Scottish flag, was scuppered by the Sri Lankan High Commission. Inside, Gujral put emphasis on the ``menace of terrorism'' and ``the scourge of the international trade in drugs'' which he said were often tied.Gujral's speech was interrupted only once by effusive applause: when he paid tribute to the Queen for her role as head of the Commonwealth and congratulated her (and her gaffe prone) husband on the golden jubilee of their wedding. Gujral referred also to the ``warmth and affection'' with which the Queen's recent visit to India was recalled.Elsewhere there was a feeling that the Indian press corp had been excluded by the Queen's press office because of the manner in which her visit was covered in the Indian press.The official position taken by foreign secretary Robin Cook and repeated by Tony Blair at his meeting with Gujral this morning was that the Queen's visit had been a great success and that there had been ``two visits.one for the Queen and one for the press.''Tomorrow, Gujral is expected to meet Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at breakfast. Sharif arrived in Edinburgh only hours before the inauguration, and is reported to be leaving early owing to the judicial crisis in Pakistan.
