1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

8th Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Host country United Kingdom
Dates27 June–6 July 1956
CitiesLondon
Participants9
ChairSir Anthony Eden
(Prime Minister)
Follows1955
Precedes1957
Key points
British bases in Ceylon, Cyprus, Cold War

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.

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]

  1. ^ a b c "St. Petersburg Times – Google News Archive Search".
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "The Age – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  4. ^ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune – Google News Archive Search".