The Commonwealth would welcome Zimbabwe’s return, provided that it was bound by the values of the organisation and was ready to provide vital economic and political support, the new Secretary-General said yesterday.

Kamalesh Sharma told The Times that Zimbabwe’s walkout five years ago meant that there was little the Commonwealth could do to overcome the crisis provoked by the elections.

“We are hoping that this democratic process is going to be a convincing and credible one,” he said in his first interview since being appointed Secre-tary-General in November. “We will have to see what the outcome is.”

Mr Sharma will visit Kenya today to offer the new Government help to prevent any fresh violence, He said that he would also meet all the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Mauritius this weekend, where the subject of Zimbabwe will come up.

Zimbabwe is a member of the SADC, but President Mugabe is not expected to attend the meeting. Last week SADC leaders held an emergency meeting in Zambia on the Zimbabwean election, but refused to back the Opposition’s demand that it be acknowledged as the winner.

Mr Sharma also voiced hope that Pakistan could soon be readmitted to the 53-nation Commonwealth. The elections were very welcome, he said. Pakistan was suspended at the November summit inKampala afterPresident Musharraf declared emergency rule.

Including Pakistan, India and Bang-ladesh, South Asia comprises 70 per cent of the Commonwealth’s population. Mr Sharma, until recently the Indian High Commissioner in London, said that if democracy could take firm root in the region it would give a “huge boost” to the Commonwealth’s principles of good governance.

Asked if he would speak out on abuses of democracy by members, he said that much would depend on circumstances. Sometimes what was needed was “constructive engagement”. At other times he would “point out” a deviation from Commonwealth values, but hold the door open for talks.

He said that Gordon Brown had expressed strong support for the revival of the Commonwealth and outlined an ambitious programme of initiatives in three fields: strengthening democratic values; offering economic assistance to smaller member states; and instigating more action to realise the millennium development goals to reduce poverty.

But, he said, the Commonwealth had a small budget and therefore had to do more as a facilitator – spreading best practice, arranging business and development partnerships and helping member states to communicate. There was plenty that the Commonwealth could do without spending money, he said. For smaller states, the Commonwealth was one of the few world bodies where their voice was heard. He added that India had much to offer, especially its experience of democracy and its rapid economic development.

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