making the country and the world a better place.

Sir John issued the challenge yesterday in his Commonwealth Day Message in the House of Assembly.

The Premier noted the diversity of the Commonwealth, its members coming from all continents and including peoples of different races, languages, and religions.

Commonwealth members "display every stage of economic development from poor developing nations to wealthy industrialised nations,'' Sir John said. "They encompass a rich variety of cultures, traditions and institutions.

"However, within this diversity, the Commonwealth brings together people of shared traditions, shared ideals and shared commitments as well as a shared language -- English,'' he said.

"Because of this mutual understanding between peoples of diverse backgrounds the Commonwealth is playing a most important role in removing the causes of war, combatting injustices, and securing social, economic, and political development amongst the peoples of the world.'' The modern Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states and dependent territories, united by a common allegiance to the Crown.

Sir John said change was underway "from a world of dominance and power to one of growing interdependence and shared responsibility.'' Countries were increasingly mutually dependent in environmental areas like forestry, the seas, and the air, he said. Drug trafficking, disease, starvation, "together with a global consensus on fundamentally new economic relationships defy all notions of `going it alone','' he said.

The challenges transcend differences, and there is a need for more fruitful dialogue between ideologies and generations, he said.

"Countries we have never heard of before threaten world prosperity and peace on a daily basis,'' Sir John said. "Whether we realise it, or whether we like it or not, the world has become one.

"So I challenge the youth of Bermuda, in this year of human values in the Commonwealth, to seek out and accept the ultimate challenge, that of service whose simple aim is making not only Bermuda, but all the world a better place.

"Let us not freeze our vision of the future, or the freshness of our mind which we need to meet these local, Commonwealth and world challenges.''