1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

The 1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the eighth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in June 1956, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden.

8th Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Host country	United Kingdom
Dates	27 June–6 July 1956
Cities	London
Participants	9
Chair	Sir Anthony Eden (Prime Minister)
Follows	1955
Precedes	1957
Key points
British bases in Ceylon, Cyprus, Cold War

The new prime minister of Ceylon, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike pressured Eden to remove British military bases in Ceylon; Britain agreed to close the installations.[1]

In international affairs, the leaders expressed their support for the People's Republic of China and Japan being admitted to the United Nations (see China and the United Nations)[2][1] and welcomed liberalization in the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev hailing the "significant changes" in Soviet domestic and foreign policy as being positive steps for world peace.[1][3] British attempts to negotiate a diplomatic settlement over Greek and Turkish claims regarding the soon to be independent British colony of Cyprus were also discussed.[4]

Participants

Nation	Name	Portfolio
United Kingdom	Sir Anthony Eden	Prime Minister (Chairman)
Australia	Robert Menzies	Prime Minister
Canada	Louis St. Laurent	Prime Minister
Ceylon	Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike	Prime Minister
India	Jawaharlal Nehru	Prime Minister
New Zealand	Sidney Holland	Prime Minister
Pakistan	Chaudhri Muhammad Ali	Prime Minister
Rhodesia and Nyasaland	Godfrey Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern	Prime Minister
South Africa	Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom	Prime Minister

[5]

References

5. "1956: The prime ministers of the Commonwealth attend a meeting at Number 10, Downing Street, London | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. 1956-06-27. Retrieved 2013-11-12.