Antigua and Barbuda, 2008

I wish at

the outset to extend heartiest congratulations and

assurances of my cooperation and highest esteem to

Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third

session. Antigua and Barbuda looks forward to his

leadership and guidance throughout this session. Our

congratulations also go to his predecessor, Mr. Kerim,

on a job well done and for his service to the

international community.

I venture to express the hope that the Group of 77

(G-77) and China will find in the President a vigorous

advocate for heightened focus and meaningful action in

pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

and other agreed development goals.

The sixty-third session of the General Assembly

is taking place against a backdrop of escalating

challenges to international peace and security:

unalleviated poverty and diminishing food supplies for

much of the world’s population; mega-disasters

induced by climate change; and impending meltdown

in the world’s largest economy. These times and

circumstances call for a heightened sense of urgency

and a stronger will among all nations to work with and

through the United Nations in embracing

multilateralism in the fullest sense.

The climate crisis is a clear and present threat to

the security of small island States like ours and a major

obstacle to the achievement of our sustainable

development goals and objectives. The international

community is not short of rhetoric on the climate issue,

nor is it short of ideas, but we have come up woefully

short of political will on the part of those whose

actions matter most.

The nexus of climate change and natural disasters

is indisputable. Natural disasters are increasing in

frequency and devastation around the globe. Such

disasters are especially catastrophic for the small

countries of the Caribbean, whose economies are

08-51845 32

largely dependent on the natural environment. I

commend the United Nations and its organs for the

work they are doing in Haiti and elsewhere in the

Caribbean, which was severely affected by hurricanes

over the past weeks. I must, however, call on the

international community to lend additional support to

the United Nations in its humanitarian efforts in the

developing world.

The emerging focus on new energy sources in the

United States and elsewhere is also happening to small

nations. We are encouraged by the promise of a

rollback of the primary contributors to the causes of

climate change. The responsibility to provide the

necessary resources to do that must be born primarily

by those developed countries which contribute most to

the causes of climate change.

In a similar context, vulnerable developing

societies are victims to the globalization of crime,

notably in the havoc wrought by handguns in the

possession of criminal elements, the trafficking of

narcotics destined essentially for markets in developed

countries, and the deportation of criminals to our

shores. We urge the international community, in

recognition of the link between globalization and

crime, to provide greater support for the efforts of

small island States to fight crime, strengthen the rule of

law and combat international drug trafficking. We also

call on developed countries to stop the practice of

deporting violent criminals to our shores.

Antigua and Barbuda is also keenly concerned

about the issue of nuclear disarmament and

non-proliferation. The Caribbean is a zone of peace,

but none of us is beyond the impact and effect of

weapons of mass destruction. The Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons should be fully

implemented and adhered to by all countries.

The constant threat that terrorism poses in today’s

highly globalized world makes nuclear disarmament

even more imperative. We will continue to promote a

nuclear-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean,

and encourage all countries, particularly the leading

industrialized nations, to vigorously pursue and support

disarmament.

I have looked critically at some of the problems

facing the global family of nations. I conclude on a

note of optimism.

We have recently seen a number of leaders

apologizing to the African diaspora, to indigenous

peoples and to former colonies for past wrongs and

injustices. We have even seen binding commitment to

reparation, as in the case of Italy and Libya. I salute

those leaders who have demonstrated such

enlightenment.

More Governments are accepting the inevitability

of democratic political change and are showing a

growing commitment to good governance, fair and free

elections and the orderly transfer and sharing of power.

Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa come to mind

immediately and deserve commendation.

Finally, it is fascinating how both candidates in

the United States presidential election are vying for the

change franchise in that country. As a representative of

the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda, I

call on the United States administration and its future

leadership to effect change in its dealings with our

brother nation of the Republic of Cuba.

I call on the United States to end the economic,

commercial and financial embargo imposed on our

brothers and sisters in Cuba. As a world leader and

defender of justice, the United States must embrace

change fully in the interests of the men, women and

children of Cuba.

I firmly believe that the United Nations would be

a more potent entity and the world could be infinitely

better placed if the next president of the United States

in his inauguration address gave an irrevocable

commitment to multilateralism in all its dimensions.

Permit me in my capacity as the Chair of the

G-77 and China to offer a few comments on behalf of

the group.

The United Nations and the broader international

community have spent much time and other resources

over two decades identifying, defining and reaching a

common understanding on major challenges to global

society. We have passed resolutions and declarations in

which we have defined the challenges, identified the

resources needed and resolved and committed to

meeting and overcoming the challenges as a global

community through international cooperation. In some

cases, we have agreed and set binding time frames to

achieve results.

Many of these commitments, timetables and

proposals for action have been repeated in annual

33 08-51845

resolutions of the General Assembly. Unfortunately,

many have become more technically complicated,

while there has been less and less political commitment

to action supporting their unified and mutually

reinforcing implementation.

We have had some modest gains, as, for example,

in our fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria. However,

in general, our record of implementation and delivery

on commitments is a source of embarrassment to us as

leaders.

We are confronted by an endemic crisis of

development, including the failure of development

policies and approaches that do not take into account

the specific situation of countries and regions.

This has resulted in growing inequities within and

across countries, an environmental and climate change

crisis with unsustainable pressures on production and

ecosystems, a global economic and financial crisis

spreading from the major economies, a crisis of

confidence in global governance and institutional

capacity for managing international trade, finance and

development policies, a worsening energy crisis, an

unprecedented food crisis, and a looming water crisis.

We recognize that each country has the primary

responsibility for its development. However, the

international community must create a conducive,

sustainable, fair and predictable environment and

provide the necessary policy space to stimulate and

facilitate the discharge of this responsibility.

We must all move immediately into

implementation mode — a mode where our focus is on

how to do rather than how not to do. We have some

important strategic opportunities ahead to begin to do

so.

The G-77 and China believe that we could begin

with today’s high-level meeting of the General

Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals.

At the midpoint we, as an international

community, are in danger of missing most of the MDG

targets. We have not provided the resources, the

conducive international environment and the

cooperation to ensure that all developing countries can

meet their specific targets.

Several sources were identified in Monterrey

through which the financing could be mobilized to

address the commitments to tackle many of the

challenges, including those summarized in the

Millennium Development Goals.

Let us use the process leading up to the Follow-

up International Conference on Financing for

Development, and the Conference itself, to offer

specific proposals on how we will provide and use

resources, and on how we will set about shaping the

international economic environment in order to speed

achievement of those objectives and targets, as well as

increase the participation of developing countries.

In December 2007, the Bali process reaffirmed

the international community’s resolve to ensure that,

by the end of 2009, it will have a clear idea about

commitments from Annex 1 Parties to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) on greenhouse gas-reduction for the second

commitment period, as well as their commitments on

firm actions and resources to facilitate adaptation,

mitigation, technology transfer and financing for

Non-Annex 1 Parties.

The outcomes of the United Nations Climate

Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in 2009

must be robust and implementation-driven. The various

intergovernmental activities on the energy and food

crises scheduled for the coming months should be

focused not only on solutions to the immediate

problems of food insecurity and energy issues, but also

on long-term sustainable developmental imperatives.

These are illustrations of the opportunities which

can and should be used by the international community

to foster implementation of both outstanding and new

commitments. They are by no means exhaustive. The

Group of 77 and China would urge the General

Assembly to resolve to promptly send a message

communicating the urgency of implementing those

various processes and activities.