The High Commissioner of Cyprus to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Euripides Evriviades, is the new Chair of the Commonwealth Secretariat Board of Governors. Having been elected unanimously by his fellow Board members.

Mr Euripides succeeds The High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea to the United Kingdom, Her Excellency Ms Winnie Kiap,and he will serve in this position for two years.
All 53 Commonwealth member states are represented on the Board of Governors, which meets annually to consider Commonwealth Secretariat work plans and budgets.

Euripides L Evriviades is High Commissioner for the Republic of Cyprus to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as of 04 November 2013. Before assuming this post, he was Deputy Permanent Secretary/Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Jan., 2012–Nov., 2013) serving intermittently as Ag. Permanent Secretary. Prior, he served as Ambassador / Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe (Nov., 2008–Jan., 2012), having also chaired its Rapporteur Group on External Relations (2011). Previously, he was Political Director of the Ministry (2006-2008), having concurrent accreditation to the State of Kuwait, pro tem Nicosia.

Mr Evriviades was Ambassador to the United States of America and non-resident High Commissioner to Canada, serving concomitantly as: the Permanent Representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization; the Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States; and Representative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (2003-2006). He also served as Ambassador to the Netherlands (2000-2003) and to Israel (1997-2000). Earlier in his career, he held positions at Cypriot embassies in Bonn, Germany (1986-1988); Moscow, USSR/Russia (1988-1993); and Tripoli, Libya (1995).
He started his diplomatic career in 1976 at the Cyprus Consulate General in New York as Vice-Consul (1976-78) and later as Consul (1978-1982). He also held the position of First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations (1980-1982). From 1976 to 1980, he was a member of the Cyprus Delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (4th–10th sessions). He has published articles on the subject, as well as on the Cyprus question; on security issues of the eastern Mediterranean; and on diplomacy.

On 20 April 2015 he was voted by his peers in London as Diplomat of Year from Europe, an award of The Diplomat Magazine (est. 1947). On 15 January 2006, he received in Washington, DC, the King Legacy Award for International Service, bestowed upon him by the Committee on the International Salute to the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Man for All Nations. He was honored in The Hague as the “Ambassador of the Year” by the Stichting Vrienden van Saur (“Friends of Saur”) Foundation, a Dutch social and philanthropic society (October 2003). Other decorations include the Great Commander of the Order of the Orthodox Knights of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem, February 2000); and the Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn, March 1989).

High Commissioner Evriviades holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA-policy area of concentration: International Affairs and Security) from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1984) which he attended as a Fulbright Fellow. He graduated (cum laude, 1976) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire. He received a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, from his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire (21 May 2005). He was born in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 6 August 1954. He is married to Anastasia Iacovidou-Evriviades, an attorney-at-law. He has an avid interest in the arts, especially music, as well as in antiquities, cartography and motorcycling.

Head of the Commonwealth
HM Queen Elizabeth II is Head of the Commonwealth. The Head of The Commonwealth’s role includes a number of symbolic functions. There is no maximum fixed term for the Head of The Commonwealth. The choice of successive Heads will be made collectively by Commonwealth leaders.
Commonwealth Secretary-General
Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC is the Commonwealth Secretary-General
The Secretary-General is responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly, and is the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Secretariat which supports dialogue and collaboration between member governments at the intergovernmental level.
The Secretary-General is selected by Commonwealth leaders and can serve a maximum of two four-year terms.
Patricia Scotland is from Dominica, and is the sixth Secretary-General since the post and the Commonwealth Secretariat were established in 1965.
Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) deals with serious or persistent violations of Commonwealth political values and can recommend measures for collective action.
CMAG can also consider situations of concern in member countries in a proactive, engaged and positive manner.
Its authority to suspend or even recommend to Commonwealth leaders that a member country be expelled is unparalleled by other international organisations.
The Group is convened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General and is made up of a representative of the Commonwealth’s Chair-in-Office and foreign ministers from eight countries – who serve a two-year term.
Board of Governors

The Board of Governors approves the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work plans and budgets. All member governments are represented on the Board of Governors, which meets annually.
Commonwealth Chair-in-Office

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Theresa May is the current Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. The Chair-in-Office is the leader of the Commonwealth country that hosts a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The two-year role comes into effect at the start of the CHOGM. The Chair-in-Office voices Commonwealth positions at high-level international forums and reinforces the Good Offices role of the Commonwealth Secretary-General. The term ‘Good Offices’ refers to conflict prevention and resolution work carried out in Commonwealth countries.