The 1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the eighth
Meeting of the
Heads of Government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...
of the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...
. It was held in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
in June 1956, and was hosted by that country's
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, Sir
Anthony Eden.
The new prime minister of
Ceylon,
pressured Eden to remove British military bases in Ceylon; Britain agreed to close the installations.
In international affairs, the leaders expressed their support for the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Japan being admitted to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
(see
China and the United Nations
China is one of the charter members of the United Nations and is one of five permanent members of its Security Council.
One of the victorious Allies of the Second World War (the Chinese theatre of which was the Second Sino-Japanese War), the ...
)
[ and welcomed liberalization in the ]Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
under Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
hailing the "significant changes" in Soviet domestic and foreign policy as being positive steps for world peace.[ British attempts to negotiate a diplomatic settlement over Greek and Turkish claims regarding the soon to be independent British colony of ]Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
were also discussed.
Participants
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, 1956
1956 in London
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
Diplomatic conferences in the United Kingdom
20th-century diplomatic conferences
1956 in international relations
1956 in the British Empire
1956 conferences
June 1956 events in the United Kingdom
July 1956 events in the United Kingdom
1950s in the City of Westminster
Anthony Eden
Robert Menzies
Jawaharlal Nehru