Commonwealth (C): note - also known as Commonwealth of Nations
established - 31 December 1931
aim - to foster multinational cooperation and assistance, as a voluntary association that evolved from the British Empire
members - (54) Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh,
Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica,
Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya,
Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, NZ, Nigeria, Pakistan (suspended), Papua
New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon
Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad
and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, UK, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe (suspended)
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): established - 8 December 1991; effective - 21 December 1991
aim - to coordinate intercommonwealth relations and to provide a mechanism for the orderly dissolution of the USSR
members - (12) Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Communist countries: traditionally the Marxist-Leninist states with authoritarian governments and command economies based on the Soviet model; most of the original and the successor states are no longer Communist; see centrally planned economies
Coordinating Committee on Export Controls (COCOM): established in 1949 to control the export of strategic products and technical data from member countries to proscribed destinations; members were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK, US; abolished 31 March 1994; COCOM members established a new organization, the Wassenaar Arrangement, with expanded membership on 12 July 1996 which focuses on nonproliferation export controls as opposed to East- West control of advanced technology
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CEMA): note - also known as
CMEA or Comecon