Saint Lucia, 2007

The pleasure is mine at

this juncture, to join the other Members of the United

Nations family in congratulating you, Mr. President on

your election as President of the General Assembly at

its sixty-second session. We wish you success in all

your efforts and assure you of our full cooperation. We

also wish to express our appreciation to your

predecessor, Sheika Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for the

diligent manner in which she spearheaded the work of

this body at its sixty-first session.

In similar vein, we express our continued support

for the endeavours of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

We are confident that he will continue to provide

committed leadership to this Organization in the

defence and promotion of its noble principles and

values in every corner of the globe.

I begin my address on a sad note. It is with much

pain that I must inform this body that the person who

brought Saint Lucia to independence and consequently

to this body and who, but for the will of the Almighty

would have addressed you today Sir John George

Melvin Compton, our first and latest Prime Minister

was laid to rest in Saint Lucia last Tuesday,

18 September. Our nation and region suffered a great

loss, but we remain committed to seizing every

opportunity to carry on his life’s work of aiding the

cause that needs assistance against the wrong that

needs resistance, and in so doing continue to honour

him. What I am about to say reflects his thoughts on

and aspirations for this Assembly and for the United

Nations Organization in general.

We note that a significant part of our journey

towards the realization of the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) has been covered in terms of time and

that in some respects there has been some achievement

to date. However, it is also true that only mixed

progress, regionally and internationally, has been

recorded so far. Millions continue to live in conditions

of abject poverty, despite the commitments made in

2000 and 2005. The sad fact is that a great deal of work

still remains to be done, and urgently, if we are to

achieve the MDGs and see real changes in the

conditions of existence for such large numbers of

people.

We would be well advised to embark upon a

period of serious reflection and stock-taking, an

exercise involving an honest assessment of our

achievements and failures, with a view to repositioning

ourselves as necessary to ensure that we achieve the

noble objectives set out in the Millennium

Development Goals by the projected year 2015.

On our own front, Saint Lucia has made

significant strides over the years towards the

achievement of the MDGs. We intend to continue on a

steady path towards that end. Not only has the country

attained universal primary education, but a programme

of universal access to free secondary education for our

young citizens has been introduced.

Saint Lucia’s progress in the health sector is also

evident. Over the last 25 years, the country has

experienced significant improvements in most health-

related indicators, including life expectancy,

immunization coverage and infant mortality, while

significant reductions have been experienced in respect

of communicable diseases and lifestyle-related

illnesses. A universal programme of free health care is

currently in the early stages of implementation.

Over the years, too, Saint Lucia has consistently

worked toward a reduction in the incidence of

non-communicable diseases. Serious attention has also

been given to combating the HIV/AIDS problem,

which remains a major challenge to Saint Lucia and

other countries in the Caribbean region. Efforts to

address this issue are being pursued, mainly through

education, including the elimination of stigma

associated with this disease, early detection and

treatment programmes and the provision of free or

subsidized antiretroviral drugs.

As a small island developing State, Saint Lucia

finds it beneficial to undertake this daunting task

through regional and international cooperation.

Accordingly, through the Pan-Caribbean Partnership

against HIV/AIDS, we collaborate with other countries

in the wider Caribbean region in addressing the

pandemic. While this regional mechanism, which

includes the 15 members of the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) as well as other countries in the wider

Caribbean region, has facilitated our cooperative

approach to addressing this challenge, it is clear that

increased and sustained international cooperation is

critical to our efforts if we are to succeed in our fight

against this disease. In this regard, we welcome the

assistance being provided by the Global Fund to Fight

AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, working with other

partners, and we look forward to its continued support.

Let me take this opportunity to thank our

traditional friends and donors, such as the United

Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, the

European Union and the Commonwealth, to name the

most prominent, who over the years have provided

much financial and technical assistance to our country

and to the region. We also welcome the contribution of

those other States and institutions that have

demonstrated their readiness to work with us in the

realization of our development objectives. We are, of

course, always willing to develop new beneficial

relationships and to collaborate with all who

understand and appreciate our efforts and our

principles. In this regard, we take special note of the

announcement by Norway of its pledge of $1 billion

over 10 years to support the Millennium Goals on child

and maternal support.

Within the context of South-South cooperation,

Saint Lucia will continue to work with other

developing country partners in its quest for economic

and social development. In the light of the positive

benefits gained from cooperation programmes with

those partners, we remain convinced that, according to

the United Nations Development Programme

Administrator’s report on this issue, South-South

cooperation is one of the main drivers of development

effectiveness, requiring its integration in the

development cooperation activities of all the

organizations in the United Nations system.

Saint Lucia therefore welcomes continued United

Nations support for efforts geared towards

strengthening and advancing South-South cooperation.

We are convinced that this cooperation modality should

be strengthened in partnership with our developed

country partners and other stakeholders and should

therefore complement rather than substitute for North-

South cooperation.

The Government of Saint Lucia reiterates its

commitment to the ideals of regionalism and to the

deepening of the integration process within our region.

Saint Lucia continues to partner with sister States of

the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the

wider Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to develop

mechanisms, including the Eastern Caribbean States

Economic Union and the Caribbean Community Single

Market and Economy, to enhance the prospects for

improving the quality of life of our people. We

therefore welcome the assistance of this body and that

of those who have travelled the road to regionalism

before us.

Saint Lucia is pleased to note that Haiti’s march

toward democratic governance, recommenced just over

one year ago, continues to be assisted and sustained by

the generous efforts of the international community.

While we had hoped for a longer mandate period for

the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti in

that country, we accept the decision of the Security

Council to extend that mandate to enable it to continue

to work towards ensuring that Haiti’s political and

social stability are restored and maintained.

Under no circumstance should Haiti be left

stranded in midstream, as the consequences would be

too catastrophic to contemplate. We continue,

therefore, to call for the sustained release of pledged

development resources so that the Government and the

people of Haiti may continue to meaningfully, and in a

sustainable manner, address the numerous challenges

facing their country.

Saint Lucia places great importance on the

follow-up of the international development agenda

espoused in the Monterrey Consensus on financing for

development. Given the plethora of challenges

confronting developing countries such as Saint Lucia

in this increasingly globalized and inequitable

international economy, financing for development

continues to be key to the achievement of the MDGs

and the internationally agreed development goals.

Saint Lucia recognizes the important

commitments made over the years by some developed

country partners with regard to development finance.

We also appreciate the pledges made to significantly

improve the level of official development assistance

(ODA) in order to achieve the goal of 0.7 per cent of

developed countries’ gross domestic product.

Moreover, we are pleased about the Group of Eight

decision in 2005 to forgive the debt of some African

countries, and its more recent decision to double

development assistance to Africa.

We lament, however, that, despite these

commitments, development assistance declined in

2006. Moreover, development financing continued to

be subject to conditionalities imposed by donors and

failed to meet and support the nationally defined

priorities of developing countries. It is our hope that

the 2008 Doha Review Conference will seriously

address those concerns in the light of the significance

of financing for development at this stage of our

journey towards 2015.

Saint Lucia is well aware of the increasing

interdependence that characterizes this international

community, the importance of building partnerships

and the need to work within a multilateral framework

in order to meet the challenges of this century. For this

reason, we welcome the continued search for ways to

reposition the United Nations system so it can better

fulfil its mandate in accordance with its Charter. While

we are conscious of the magnitude of the task of

reforming the United Nations, we remain confident that

Member States will bring the requisite political will to

bear on the process.

Saint Lucia continues to underscore the

importance of social and economic development, basic

human rights, mutual respect and goodwill among

nations, and their relevance to the maintenance of

international peace and security. For these reasons, we

are concerned that peace and security remain the

exclusive preserve of the Security Council and a few

select Member States. Saint Lucia continues to support

reform and expansion of the Security Council aimed at

making it more representative. It is our hope that this

reform would reflect the role and contribution of

developing countries in helping to resolve the ever-

growing and increasingly complex challenges of

today’s world.

Many, if not all of our countries celebrate our

sovereignty with pomp, ceremony and pride, and in

accordance with that sovereignty, we take our seat in

this body. All of the rules and requirements for

membership are spelled out in the Charter of our noble

institution. Within this body our relationship with our

partners is based on a commitment to the principles of

mutual respect and understanding. For this reason, we

recognize that the Republic of China Taiwan a

democratic country of over 23 million people, has

continued to abide by the principles enshrined in the

Charter of the United Nations, although it is not a

Member of the United Nations. Taiwan has made

significant contributions to global development by

providing economic and technical assistance to other

developing countries in their pursuit of development

and their attainment of the MDGs.

We believe that sovereignty is derived from the

will of peoples and from the realization or actualization

of the right to self-determination. We are therefore

saddened that the will of the people of Taiwan,

expressed by their duly elected representatives,

continues to be ignored by this body. Saint Lucia

therefore looks forward to the day when Taiwan will

assume its place alongside other countries of the world

in the halls of this Organization.

For small States, peace and security are critical to

their sustainable development. Thus, the spread of

small arms to our region continues to be an especially

disturbing issue and is a major contributing factor to

crime and insecurity. This situation is particularly

ironic given the fact that neither arms nor ammunition

are produced in our region. We therefore call on those

States that produce small arms and ammunition to

enact appropriate measures to reduce their illicit

export, which threatens the security and stability of the

Caribbean.

Saint Lucia and other small island developing

States continue to express concerns about our extreme

vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change.

Small islands and low-lying coastal areas are

threatened daily by the impact of a rising sea level,

while others are already experiencing the untold effects

created by the increase in the melting of polar ice and

the consequent loss of significant portions of their land

mass.

For us, this climate change issue is directly

related to our development. It threatens the very core

of our social, economic and political security. It

threatens our very existence.

The dangers we face as a result of the hazardous

level of greenhouse gas concentrations in the

atmosphere are well known and documented. Urgent,

resolute action is therefore required to reverse this

situation.

Saint Lucia welcomes the efforts currently being

made to place the issue of climate change more visibly

on the agenda of the United Nations. We acknowledge

the recent G-8 commitment to work positively within

the framework of the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change to address the issue.

We maintain the view that this important issue should

be discussed within the appropriate forums in order not

to lose sight of the real development-related objectives

that vulnerable small island developing countries like

Saint Lucia are seeking to promote.

Saint Lucia joins with other members of the

Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in calling for

the problems of the rise of sea level and climate change

to be addressed as a matter of urgency. We will

continue to play our part through the development of

appropriate national development strategies and the

creation of mechanisms to enable us to mitigate against

and adapt to the adverse impact of climate change. We

stress, however, that the largest producers of

greenhouse gases must bear the responsibility for the

damage being caused to the global environment and in

particular to the vulnerable countries whose

sustainability and very existence are increasingly

threatened by their actions.

We remain concerned that the international

community has yet to honour its responsibility and

commitment to the full implementation of the

Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of

the Programme of Action for the Sustainable

Development of Small Island Developing States. We

insist on the urgent and proper mainstreaming of the

Strategy into the appropriate work programmes of the

United Nations agencies and international conventions.

We look forward to the thirteenth meeting of the

Conference of Parties on Bali in Indonesia in

December of this year, where we hope significant

negotiations will be launched with a view to seriously

addressing the disastrous effects of climate change on

small island developing States. It is our wish that this

Conference of Parties should seek to achieve

substantial and legally binding emission reductions in

the shortest possible period, as well as explore ways to

significantly increase the level of resources available to

developing countries, and to the small island

developing States, in particular, to assist in adapting to

the impacts of climate change.

While economic and trade policy reform, in

principle, holds much promise for small developing

countries, the international community must

understand that the “one size fits all” approach to trade

arrangements is inappropriate and unrealistic and will

not advance the cause of equitable global economic

development. This approach has led to a reversal in

many small States of the progress made through hard

work and sacrifice by their populations.

This fact is most evident in the case of Saint

Lucia and other small banana- and sugar-producing

countries of the Eastern Caribbean. The mindless

application of inappropriate rules has caused much

pain among the same populations that are being

challenged to meet the MDGs. Saint Lucia therefore

reiterates its call for the establishment of a set of

trading rules flexible enough to take into account the

concerns of small States, assist them in promoting

economic development, provide opportunities for their

people and, consequently, assist them in achieving the

MDGs by the stipulated deadline date.

Lastly, and looking towards the future, children

are the future, and poverty impacts children

disproportionately, seriously affecting their ability to

achieve. Unless we can all maintain the development

momentum achieved by previous generations, the

future of our children, and indeed our societies, will be

characterized by insecurity.

Saint Lucia therefore looks forward to the high-

level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the

outcome of the special session on children, to be

convened in December to evaluate progress made in

the implementation of the Declaration and Plan of

Action (resolution S-27/2, annex), bearing in mind that

several of the time-bound and quantified commitments

should have already been met.

We in Saint Lucia will continue to spend a

considerable amount of our resources on our children,

and we hope that the international community will

come to the aid of all those who recognize the future in

children, providing for them an enabling environment

for advancement through opportunity, safety, love and

peace.