Guyana, 2013

My delegation and I warmly

congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to the

high office of President of the General Assembly. I salute

you as a distinguished son of our Caribbean community

and I pledge Guyana’s unwavering support towards

the successful execution of your important duties. I

would also like to pay tribute to your predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Vuk Jeremi., for his valuable service to

the Organization. And I take this occasion to reiterate

our thanks to the Secretary-General, His Excellency

Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his leadership and dedication to

the United Nations.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express

our solidarity with and deepest condolences to the

Government and people of Kenya in the wake of the

recent terrorist attacks there, which resulted in the loss

of life and great pain to the people of that nation.

Barely 800 days remain until the deadline for the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is reached

and a post-2015 development agenda launched. It is

appropriate, therefore, that the Assembly has been

invited to focus its attention on the theme of “The post-

2015 development agenda: setting the stage”. A review

of our experience to date will reveal that the world as

a whole has witnessed substantial progress towards the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

However, prospects vary significantly within and across

countries and regions, and a large number of countries

are likely to come short in achieving the Goals.

Health and education challenges threaten the

sustainability of hard-earned socioeconomic gains.

Today, still more than 1 billion people live in extreme

poverty and one in eight persons on the planet — among

them 200 million children — suffer from chronic

undernourishment. In addition, we still have 57 million

children who are out of school. This needs to be

urgently corrected. We must also pay special attention

to the quality of education in order to develop a

generation of global citizens who are capable of rising

to the challenges of the future. To this end, Guyana

supports the Secretary-General’s Global Education

First Initiative as an instrument for the development

of meaningful solutions to the challenges regarding

access to and quality of education.

If we are to make this world a better place for

everyone, we must also address the issue of inequality.

Income distribution continues to be skewed in favour

of the rich nations and rich persons within nations.

This gap has grown dangerously wide. Needless to say,

inequality leads to great discontent and social unrest.

At the heart of many of the conflicts we see today is

the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

Sometimes this is not readily visible, as the fight

for social and economic justice is often clouded by

inter-ethnic, interreligious and other types of conflicts.

To defend the gains that we have made and to

expand further, it is necessary for the United Nations

to focus on narrowing the gaps in income, access to

social services, infrastructure, land distribution and

other critical areas. If there is one lesson to be drawn

from efforts to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals, it is that addressing inequality is crucial to the

achievement of sustainable development objectives. The

approach adumbrated in the resolution on a new global

human order (resolution 65/120) remains relevant in the

struggle to eradicate poverty and inequality and indeed

the post-2015 development agenda.

In setting the stage for a post-2015 agenda, we

must build on and expand the gains made. To this end,

we must create an international environment that will

facilitate the achievement of the goals that we will set

for the future. Central to our efforts must be the focus

on world peace. Peace and development are inseparable.

Peace will be realized only if international law and

the rights of nations and their sovereignty are always

respected and upheld.

It is in this regard that I wish to view the situation

in the Middle East. At the moment, Syria is at the

centre of our collective concern. The war in that sister

nation has taken thousands of innocent lives. It is an

illusion to believe that military intervention will bring

peace to that country. What is badly needed is political

dialogue among the Syrian parties. The international

community also has an important role to play. We

welcome the agreement between Russia and the United

States that will facilitate the destruction of chemical

weapons held in Syria. We call on all countries that

possess such weapons to do the same. We hope too, that

terrorist forces operating in Syria will withdraw. After

all, they cannot be terrorists when they were fighting

in Afghanistan and Iraq, but freedom fighters when

fighting the Syrian Government. A terrorist is simply

a terrorist.

In the same way, let me say that a blow was struck

against democracy when the coup took place in Egypt.

However, the major world Powers, instead of condemning

the use of such means to change Governments, chose

to remain silent. This gave tacit support to the coup,

which has led to violations of human rights and loss

of innocent lives, and may lead to more protests and

possibly violence and death. Nevertheless, it is our

fervent hope that the people of that great brotherly

country and their leaders, regardless of their political

persuasion, will find a peaceful way out of the present

difficulties.

Moreover, peace in the Middle East will not be

realized until we have a just solution to the Palestinian

tragedy. The Palestinian people have the right to their

own country. We support them in their quest for the

right to live in peace and in an independent, viable

Palestinian State.

Turning to our own region, allow me to underscore

that the blockade against our sister Caribbean country

Cuba has caused serious damage to that country’s

economy and continues to be a major obstacle to

development. We join the call for a lifting of the

blockade and the removal of the burden that it places on

the Cuban people.

The adoption in April of the landmark Arms Trade

Treaty opens the door to effective regulation of the

international trade in conventional arms. For us in

the Caribbean, the Treaty bears relevance not only to

the safety and security of our citizens and to the fight

against transnational crime, but also, in an important

way, to our overall pursuit of sustainable development.

The funnelling of guns into our societies is a menace

that must be curbed in order to preserve our young

people and our future. As one of the first countries to

ratify the Treaty, Guyana urges all States to work to

assure its early entry into force.

While peace is vital to development, let me hasten

to add that socioeconomic progress coupled with

democracy is crucial to the preservation of peace.

Central to these principles are our people. They remain

the most important factor for development. That is

why my country has been increasingly investing in

the development of our people. An examination of our

national budget will reveal that some 30 per cent of our

expenditure goes to the social sector. As a result, we

have managed to achieve several of the Millennium

Development Goals well before the time envisaged.

We have achieved universal primary education and are

close to achieving universal secondary education.

We have also slashed poverty by more than half.

Moreover, according to the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations, we are one of the

few countries in the world that have not only reduced

poverty but also improved nutrition. The eradication of

poverty and the promotion of sustainable development

must become a key principle and objective of global

economic governance and a guidepost for the action of

international financial and trade institutions.

While I speak of these achievements, I would

be remiss if I did not point out the grave challenges

confronting us even as we seek to build on the

foundations that have already been laid. We in the

Caribbean have experienced major setbacks due to the

international economic and financial crises that started

in North America and Europe. While it appears that

those two regions are emerging from the crises, the

effects continue to be devastating in the Caribbean.

Even as we continue to grapple with the effects of the

financial crisis, we are now faced with the graduation

and differentiation imposed by some of our international

partners.

We are told that as middle-income countries,

measured by per capita gross domestic product (GDP),

we are no longer entitled to concessionary financing.

This is a recipe for reversing the gains made over the

years of hard work and sacrifice. We call for a rethink

of that position and urge that greater consideration

be given to the special vulnerabilities of our region,

where a country can see its entire GDP wiped out by

a single hurricane or, as in our country in 2005, when

60 per cent of its GDP was wiped out because of floods.

Clearly what we need is increased cooperation with the

international community and our development partners,

and not less.

Another serious challenge to sustainable

development is the impact of climate change. This is

even more the case for small island developing States,

which are represented in the Assembly. Some of them

face an imminent passage to oblivion. Climate change is

not of our making but, sadly, as small island developing

States and low-lying coastal States, we remain the

victims of its most adverse impacts. Unfortunately,

instead of a reduction in the emissions of greenhouse

gases, there has been a rise of nearly 50 per cent. This

marked failure to take decisive action poses a threat to

all humankind. It is tragic that while we all know that

dangers that lurk due to global warming and climate

change, we seem incapable of stopping ourselves.

We therefore welcome the initiative of the Secretary-

General to convene a summit on climate change, and

hope that it will result in a strong political consensus

for addressing this paramount challenge of our time.

We welcome the observance of 2014 as the

International Year of Small Island Developing States,

and call on the international community to seize the

chance to take a serious approach to meaningfully

assist such States, in particular in relation to building

resilience and disaster risk management. To that end,

a special fund must be established and made easily

accessible.

In setting the stage for the post-2015 development

agenda, we believe that we should intensify efforts

to eradicate poverty. The United Nations must not

allow that objective to be lost among the many other

demands that exist. The United Nations also has a role

to play in ensuring that the poorer, smaller developing

countries are not always put at a disadvantage at the

level of international economic discourse and action.

It is critical that this body pursue and encourage

multilateral approaches to international and global

problems. Experience has shown that even though

the multilateral approach is often slow, it is the only

approach that can lead to lasting peace, democracy and

justice in our world.