Foreign relations of the Commonwealth of Nations

A Commonwealth citizen is a citizen of a Commonwealth of Nations member state. Most member countries generally do not treat citizens of other Commonwealth states any differently from foreign nationals, but may grant limited citizenship rights to resident Commonwealth citizens. For example, in 14 member states, resident non-local Commonwealth citizens are eligible to vote in elections. The status is most significant in the United Kingdom, and carries few or no privileges in many other Commonwealth countries.

In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat, generally ranking as an ambassador, in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy, the diplomatic mission is generally called a high commission.

The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was the 23rd Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15 to 17 November 2013. Commonwealth leaders agreed on Sri Lanka as the 2013 host for the meeting when they met in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2009. Sri Lanka, which was originally slated to host the summit in 2011, was accused of committing atrocities during the Sri Lankan civil war and the summit was instead held in Perth, Australia; Colombo was given the 2013 summit instead. The leaders of Canada, Mauritius, and India boycotted the summit, citing alleged human rights violations by Sri Lanka against its Tamil minority. Protests were also banned during the summit. President Mahinda Rajapaksa summarised the summit's events as: "Issues covered in the communique include development, political values, global threats, challenges and Commonwealth cooperation." However, the meeting was overshadowed by controversy over Sri Lanka's human rights record and the alleged war crimes during the final stages of the civil war. This was the first time in 40 years that the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, was not present at the CHOGM.

The Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden is located in Hanover Square in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It commemorates the Commonwealth of Nations member states' victims of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on July 6, 2010, in a ceremony alongside her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, then-Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, then-Governor of New York David Paterson, and then-Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie.