Barbados, 2006

I am pleased to

join with preceding speakers in congratulating you on

your election to preside over the General Assembly at

its sixty-first session. The fact that you are a woman

makes me doubly happy. In 61 years you are only the

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third female President of the Assembly. Throughout

your distinguished career, you have championed with

determination and courage the cause of women’s

rights, and I am confident that you will bring these and

other outstanding qualities to your presidency. I pledge

to you the fullest cooperation of the delegation of

Barbados.

I would also wish to thank and congratulate your

predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his leadership at the

sixtieth session of the General Assembly and in

particular for the skill he demonstrated in that very

challenging task.

I must also take this opportunity to say a special

farewell on behalf of the Government and people of

Barbados to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

who has served this Organization with great skill and

dedication over the past 10 years. The Secretary-

General has had to face myriad challenges, and he has

always found the strength of character, purpose and

fortitude to craft appropriate solutions. Barbados

wishes the Secretary-General well as he proceeds into

retirement at the beginning of next year, and we look

forward to welcoming him again to the beautiful shores

of Barbados whenever he feels the need for some

respite and recuperation.

I would also like at this time to welcome our

newest Member, Montenegro, into the family of the

United Nations.

In July this year, the formal return of Haiti to the

councils of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

was greeted with great satisfaction by all. At that time,

the CARICOM heads of Government pledged their full

assistance to Haiti to facilitate efforts to promote that

country’s development and renewal. We call on the

international community to support the strengthening

of democracy and the social and economic

development of Haiti and to disburse in a timely

manner the funds pledged for Haiti’s reinvigoration

and development. We cannot afford to repeat past

mistakes.

This session of the General Assembly provides an

important first opportunity to review and assess the

progress in the implementation of the decisions of the

historic 2005 World Summit. At this juncture, it is

Barbados’s opinion that the results are decidedly

mixed. The reform agenda decided on at the World

Summit, encompassed a broad spectrum of issues. We

are pleased that progress has been made in areas such

as the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the

Peacebuilding Commission and the Central Emergency

Response Fund, the agreement on a counter-terrorism

strategy and the revitalization of the General Assembly.

We regret that progress on the cluster of development

issues, which enjoyed broad consensus at the 2005

World Summit, has been painfully slow. Also, further

work needs to be undertaken on Secretariat and

management reform as well as on reform of the

Security Council.

The primacy of development on the global

agenda must be ensured. Barbados considers the

initiative to select development as the theme for this

general debate to be laudable. If we are to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, the

next ten years must be the decade of implementation,

in which we collectively mobilize the will and

resources needed. In this connection, we commend the

Secretary-General for recommending a number of

additional targets that would facilitate the monitoring

of progress in the implementation of the Summit

Outcome (resolution 60/1).

When I addressed this Assembly one year ago, I

called for the adoption of a new target within the MDG

framework on universal access to sexual and

reproductive health and rights. Barbados thanks the

Secretary-General for recognizing the critical link

between sexual and reproductive health and rights and

development, and we fully support his recommendation

for a new target under Goal 6 of the MDGs. We are

equally supportive of his other recommendations for

new targets on universal access for treatment of

HIV/AIDS by 2010 and on decent work and productive

employment.

We would, too, like to see speedier

implementation of the decisions on increased financial

resources for development which were made last year

at the Group of Eight (G-8) meeting at Gleneagles and

at the World Summit. These resources are now needed

urgently, particularly by those countries, like my own,

that have prepared their comprehensive national

development strategies to achieve the MDGs and other

international development goals and objectives.

While the developing countries bear

responsibility for their own development, national

actions will not be sufficient to bring about their fuller

participation in the global economy. These actions

must be complemented by a supportive international

15 06-53329

system, the essential elements of which include

improvement in global governance, more coherence in

the operation of the United Nations system and a

greater voice for the United Nations in the global

development policy dialogue.

Changes in global governance have not kept pace

with the growth of global interdependence, and far-

reaching institutional changes are required to bring

about a more effective system. We call for

democratization of the governance of the international

financial and trade systems and concrete steps to be

taken to end the marginalization of developing

countries and small economies in the policy

formulation and decision-making processes in the

multilateral, financial and trade institutions.

Globalization must be made more inclusive and its

benefits more equitably distributed.

Barbados also believes that improvement in

global governance must be mirrored in the

strengthening of the management and coordination of

the United Nations operational activities at the country

level. This will ensure delivery of better coordinated

development assistance. It will lead to better

absorption of aid by recipient countries and ultimately

facilitate their attainment of the MDGs. Indeed, the

United Nations must be developmentally holistic. We

anxiously await the Secretary-General’s report on the

work of the High-level Panel on this issue. A stronger

United Nations voice in development led by a

revitalized Economic and Social Council will also

contribute to an improved international system.

Barbados will continue to work with other Member

States to adopt a resolution on reform of the Economic

and Social Council at this sixty-first session of the

General Assembly.

Permit me to focus for a few moments on the

issue of trade; for there is nothing else more important

for small developing countries than an improved

multilateral trading system if we are to have the chance

to participate in and benefit from the ongoing process

of globalization. The failure of WTO talks to reach

agreement on new commitments for trade reform in the

agricultural and industrial goods sectors represents a

very real crisis in international trade negotiations. The

challenges of reforming trade in these areas are not

insurmountable. We call on the developed countries to

demonstrate a unity of purpose to resolve differences

among themselves, remembering that this round of

trade talks is about development, or more precisely

about raising the standard of living of people in

developing countries. Consistent with the theme of this

year’s session of the Assembly, “Implementing a global

partnership for development”, developed and

developing countries must partner together to achieve a

workable agreement.

If there is to be a successful outcome to the trade

negotiations, a narrow focus on trade liberalization and

enhanced market access alone will not be enough. For

while it is important to have agreements that open up

access to markets, it is even more essential for any

negotiated trade agreement to contain provisions that

would assist developing countries to implement

policies aimed at transforming their economies. In

other words, market access is meaningless without

goods and services with which to trade.

An adjustment mechanism will be required to

assist developing countries in coping with the loss of

preferences, markets and the resultant reduction in

financial resources during this most important

transitional phase of their development. For the small

and vulnerable economies this will mean some form of

special and differential treatment to facilitate their full

integration into the multilateral trading system.

Special and differential treatment should not be

seen as a concession or as an exception to the rules, but

rather as a concept based on the development and

policy needs of countries at differing levels of

development. It should consist of a broad mix of

provisions and programmes that recognize and

appreciate the characteristics of developing countries

and the economic challenges that trade liberalization

and globalization pose for them, and it should seek to

address these factors genuinely. In the words of the

Prime Minister of Barbados, The Right Honourable

Owen Arthur, special and differential treatment is

nothing more than reciprocity with flexibility. Among

equals, equality; among unequals, proportionality.

During this session, the Assembly will return to a

consideration of the agenda item on the Caribbean Sea.

We appeal to the members of the international

community to recognize the fragility of this precious

shared natural resource of the Caribbean, and its

importance for most of our present and future

economic activity, and agree on measures that will

need to be taken to recognize the Caribbean Sea as a

special area within the context of sustainable

development.

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Also during this Assembly session, the two

hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the slave

trade will be recognized. Barbados joins other

delegations in requesting the Assembly to set aside a

day in late March of next year to commemorate this

important date. This will not only deepen our

knowledge and understanding of slavery and the slave

trade, but also contribute to the removal of all the

vestiges of slavery.

Recent events suggest that we need to remain

ever vigilant to threats of terrorism. They further

remind us that once again we face increasing

challenges to world peace and security. Barbados is of

the view that there must be a concerted effort on the

part of the international community to ensure that

disputes among States do not continuously result in

military action and loss of lives and that States remain

faithful to the rules of humanitarian law and civilian

rights.

The questioning of the efficacy of the United

Nations has not abated in spite of the ongoing reform

process, and the threat to multilateralism remains real.

In this, our fortieth year of membership of the United

Nations, Barbados reaffirms its faith in the

Organization and proclaims its unwavering

commitment to multilateralism. Over the past 40 years,

Barbados has played its part in strengthening and

widening the role of the United Nations to enable it to

promote and protect human rights, to eradicate poverty

and disease and to cultivate a global culture of peace.

Strengthening the role of the United Nations

system in the management of global affairs and

upholding and defending its moral authority remain

key foreign policy priorities of the Government of

Barbados. With the growing complexity and

unpredictability of international affairs, especially in

the context of globalization, and with the emergence of

new challenges to peace and security, the fulfilment of

the role of the United Nations remains critical. It is

now more than ever that we need to strengthen the

structures and institutions of the international system to

safeguard our common interests in achieving a global

order of peace and economic and social progress for

all. We must all work together to reform this vital

community of nations and ensure its pre-eminence in

matters of development, human rights, and peace and

security, and that it remains the principal forum for

exercising multilateralism.

We are not at liberty to abstain from this task.