Dominica, 2000

I

wish to extend my congratulations to Mr. Harri Holkeri

and his country, Finland, on his election to the high

office of President of the fifty-fifth session of the

United Nations General Assembly. His experience and

the respect accorded him by the international

community will certainly ensure that the matters of this

Assembly are conducted with efficiency and urgency.

I should also like to express my delegation's

appreciation for the very competent manner in which

his predecessor, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, presided over

the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

The recently concluded Millennium Assembly

was exceptional for the number of world leaders who

attended that historic event. The Declaration adopted at

its conclusion sets forth laudable values and principles

for the guidance of the international community.

Further, it documents the goals that must be achieved

and the challenges that must be met if we are to

succeed in creating a better world for all citizens of our

global village.

But the Declaration is also a strikingly sad

chronicle of the deplorable and degrading conditions

that affect the lives of most of the world's population:

debilitating and abject poverty, economic deprivation,

oppression and injustice, inadequate or non-existent

health care in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,

victimization on the basis of ethnicity, children without

educational opportunities but with daily experiences of

hunger, lack of fresh and clean water and uncertain

prospects of ever escaping depressing and unhealthy

surroundings.

These conditions were not newly discovered

immediately prior to the Millennium Assembly. Indeed,

they have been the subjects of United Nations

resolutions at successive sessions of the General

Assembly in the past. While there has been some

amelioration in some areas, largely through the efforts

of the United Nations and its agencies, there has been

noticeable deterioration in others. The challenge that

faces the United Nations, and the international

community in particular, is to go beyond the concerns

expressed, the affirmations and resolutions and

demonstrate in tangible and effective ways a

commitment to serious engagement in a concerted

effort to bring about meaningful change in the lives of

the many poor people among us.

As the Commonwealth of Dominica and other

small States embark on the difficult road of raising the

living standards of their citizens, we find the task made

much more difficult by the negative impact of the twin

forces of liberalization and globalization. Globalization

and trade liberalization operate to the advantage of the

rich and developed countries, which have the requisite

institutional and human resource capability and are

well placed to reap the benefits and rewards that accrue

from these processes. For small countries like my own,

with very limited ability to carry out proper

exploitation and to deal with current economic forces,

globalization has resulted in greater inequality and

marginalization and a widening gap between rich and

poor nations.

That is the unavoidable result, since the

proverbial levelling of the playing field is in reality

non-existent. And the countries benefiting from the

process seem to have no interest in making sure that all

nations, rich and poor, have an equal opportunity to be

engaged in harnessing the opportunities presented by

economic and scientific innovations and by the

revolution in telecommunications and information

technology.

Compounding this problem is the disturbing and

alarming tendency of the rich and powerful to fashion

international trade rules and organizations with the

purported intention of liberalizing trade but which in

reality have resulted in creating a decisive edge in

international commerce for themselves. Those who

advance the concept of free trade as the most efficient

vehicle for income enhancement in developing

countries continue to cling to protectionist policies for

selected items of trade while simultaneously engaged

in a determined effort to deny market access that

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provides some small measure of special or differential

treatment for our exports.

A clear case in point is the World Trade

Organization (WTO) and what it represents for the

Commonwealth of Dominica and other small banana-

producing countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

We have traditionally, over a period of 50 years,

exported our bananas to the European market, under

special rules that made allowances for the particular

circumstances of small State size, or difficult terrain

and high cost of production. In the interpretation and

application of its rules, the WTO is not minded to craft

decisions that promote equity and fairness among

parties of unequal standing. But that is the logical

expectation for an organization that was evidently

established to decide disputes among equals and on

whose dispute panels, particularly at the appellate

levels, the advanced countries are predominantly

represented.

The ruling of the WTO in the dispute with respect

to the European Union's banana import regime has

resulted in economic uncertainty in the Windward

Islands, a situation made all the more damaging by the

continuing inability of the parties to agree on a formula

for making the regime compatible with WTO rules. My

country holds firmly to the view that adopting either of

the current proposals being considered to resolve the

banana dispute would result in economic stagnation

and dislocation for the banana-exporting countries in

the Caribbean, particularly of course in the Eastern

Caribbean, as well as Jamaica, Belize and Suriname.

We therefore urge the parties concerned to

explore a compromise solution that would allow

Dominica and other banana-producing countries to

continue to export bananas to the European Union at

prices that are fair and reasonable. Equal trade and fair

prices are what we ask for, not handouts. Our suffering

farmers ask for no more. Meanwhile, our

diversification efforts are being accelerated while we

stand square and firm in support of our farmers. My

delegation calls for a speedy resolution to this impasse,

as we view the application by the United States of trade

sanctions against some members of the European

Union as counterproductive and not conducive to

reaching a fair and negotiated settlement. The

threatened carousel approach to imposing those

sanctions is punitive and a pressure device, unfair to

those European countries.

At a time when there is a real prospect of our

losing our market in bananas and as we explore avenue

of economic diversification, our fledgling financial

services sector has been subjected, since June last year,

to a potentially serious attack from the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The

OECD alleged that several Caribbean countries,

including my own, are guilty of establishing and

maintaining tax havens. These countries were also

condemned for having competitive tax regimes and for

their unwillingness to undertake to eliminate policies

that the OECD unilaterally determined to be harmful to

its members. The Commonwealth of Dominica believes

that the unilateral formulations contained in the OECD

report are inconsistent with international practice and

are designed to impede the development of the

competitive capacity of the Caribbean jurisdictions in

the provision of offshore financial services. We believe

that international rules and practices must evolve from

genuine consultative practices and must be

democratically applied on the basis of accepted

principles and norms in the international community.

We take the view that the report is simply one more

example of small developing States being coerced into

complying with rules, standards and practices

promulgated by advanced States to advance the

protection of their economies while ours continue to

deteriorate.

We are committed to the establishment of

adequate legislative and regulatory frameworks

necessary to insulate the sector from illegal activities.

We are also ready to work with the Financial Action

Task Force to address any legitimate concerns they

may have. However, we do not intend to surrender our

sovereign right to act in the best economic interests of

our citizens, nor will we be deterred from doing so by

threats of any kind from any quarter.

While our efforts at improving our export

earnings are being undermined and our financial

services sector comes under serious scrutiny, the

development programmes and strategies of the

Commonwealth of Dominica continue to be affected by

the continuing decline in official development

assistance (ODA). The expectation that foreign direct

investment would bridge the gap has not materialized,

notwithstanding the strides we have made in providing

a climate of good governance, openness and stable,

democratic practice, which, we were told, were the

prerequisites for investment development.

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The simple truth is that the more advanced

developing countries have benefited disproportionately

from the tremendous increase in foreign direct

investment over the last decade, with the small and less

developed States receiving little or nothing at all. There

must be an understanding that if small developing

States are to embark successfully on the road to

sustainable economic development without the benefit

of foreign direct investment, official development

assistance is indispensable to that process and the

declining trend in the provision of official development

assistance must perforce and necessarily be reversed.

The most deadly threat to our human resource

base and to our population at large is the contagion of

HIV/AIDS. This disease takes a heavy toll not only in

lives but also in social and economic terms, and the

countries most affected are the least able to deal with

the consequences. Statistics from the recent world

conference on HIV/AIDS indicate that sub-Saharan

Africa has the highest rate of infection in the world,

with the Caribbean coming a close second.

This is not an African or Caribbean problem,

however. Global in scope and impact, the HIV/AIDS

pandemic warrants global attention and action. The

Commonwealth of Dominica believes that as a first

immediate step there must come into being a

partnership between the pharmaceutical manufacturers

and the stakeholders in the international community,

with the express purpose of ensuring that less costly

HIV/AIDS medication is readily available to those

most in need. Simultaneously, there must be increased

efforts at raising awareness and consciousness of the

crisis and the preventive measures available, while a

dedicated commitment to the development of an AIDS

vaccine must be matched by increasing funding for

research.

In 1994, the Commonwealth of Dominica

participated in the Global Conference on the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States and there reaffirmed our commitment to

sustainable development programmes that enhance the

quality of the lives of peoples, including their health,

well-being and safety.

The task ahead of us is to ensure that the

measures and the resources of small island developing

States — the oceans, coastal environments,

biodiversity and human resources — are utilized in a

sustainable manner that will be to the advantage of

present and future generations, as it is our

responsibility to preserve them. My country shares

with small island developing States the problem of the

safe disposal of solid and liquid waste. It has been

recognized that this lack of capacity results in marine

pollution and coastal degradation. Our position is

consistent with the Rio Declaration on Environment

and Development that small island developing States

will be constrained in meeting the challenges that face

them if they do not have the cooperation and assistance

of the international community.

As the United Nations meets for the first General

Assembly of the new century, the delegation of the

Commonwealth of Dominica wishes to address once

again the issue of democratic representation in the

United Nations for the people of the Republic of China.

It is a concern to my delegation that the Republic of

China, with a democratically elected Government and a

population of 23 million, is unable to participate in our

deliberations.

The Republic of China is a model of democracy

in Asia and is more than able to carry out the

obligations of our Charter. Over the past few decades,

the Republic of China has proved itself to be a good

world citizen, using its own economic development to

generously assist in alleviating debilitating poverty

through economic assistance programmes in many

needy developing countries. The situation of the

Republic of China should be addressed to ensure

participation in the work and activities of our

organization and its agencies as a valued member of

the international community.

My delegation calls for this fifty-fifth General

Assembly to be a new beginning for the United

Nations. Rejuvenated by the unprecedented sharing of

vision that we witnessed during the Millennium

Summit, let us utilize those ideas, proposals,

suggestions and criticisms to chart a way forward for

the United Nations that will allow it to meet the needs

and challenges of this new century.

Let us look towards a new vision for a future that

will incorporate the weak and strong, the rich and poor

and the developed and developing world, so that none

will be marginalized. Let us collaborate in achieving

the objectives of the Secretary-General's millennium

report of freedom from fear and freedom from want.

Let us include all Members — developed, developing

and least developed — in the decision-making process

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so that all can share a future based on the premises laid

down by our forebears in the Charter of the United

Nations.