established - 31 December 1931
aim - to foster multinational cooperation and assistance, as a voluntary association that evolved from the British Empire
members - (53) Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji (suspended), The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, NZ, Nigeria, Pakistan (reinstated 2004), 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; note - on 7 December 2003 Zimbabwe withdrew its membership from the Commonwealth
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
Comuinidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa (CPLP): established - 1996
aim - to establish a forum for friendship among Portuguese-speaking nations where Portuguese is an official language
members - (8) Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste