Commonwealth secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat was established in June 1965 by a decision of the 1964 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Prior to this date intra-Commonwealth affairs had been administered by British Civil Servants. The Secretariat was designed to assist internal co-operation between member states and was never intended to have executive powers.

From the guide to the Commonwealth Secretariat: Senior Officials Meeting, 1971-1974, (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)