President Mahinda Rajapaksa left the country today (24 October) to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011 (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia.

CHOGM 2011 will bring together more than 50 world leaders representing approximately one-quarter of the world's countries and one-third of the world's population.

The three-day meeting of Commonwealth leaders will be from October 28-30.

Ordinary sessions of CHOGM began on October 20. The theme for CHOGM this year is 'Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience'.

Every two years, Commonwealth leaders meet at CHOGM to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, and to agree on collective policies and initiatives.

The first CHOGM was held in 1971 in Singapore, and there have been twenty-one held in total: the most recent in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009.

Sri Lanka is a founding member of the CHOGM.