Saint Kitts and Nevis, 2004

I am pleased

to welcome and congratulate you, Sir, and the Republic

of Gabon through you, for allowing us to share your

experience and expertise on the occasion of the fifty-

ninth session of the General Assembly. I must convey

to Mr. Julian Hunte, Foreign Minister of Saint Lucia,

my country’s gratitude for his hard work and

memorable contribution to this Organization over the

past year.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis

reaffirms its strong support for and commitment to the

praiseworthy, attainable Millennium Development

Goals. Their stated objectives are fundamental and

have long been incorporated into my country’s national

human development agenda.

For decades, before the Millennium Development

Goals were agreed upon, Saint Kitts and Nevis had

instituted compulsory primary and secondary

education, which may explain our achievement of a

literacy rate of 97.8 per cent. We in the Caribbean

Community (CARICOM) are very proud of our

achievements in the field of education. We owe much

of that success to our coherent system of education and

also to the University of the West Indies, whose

academic credentials continue to amaze and evolve to

meet the needs of our people. We invite fellow United

Nations Member States to explore that resource in the

Caribbean so their citizens can pursue higher education

in that great institution of learning and in the most

peaceful and pristine of multicultural settings.

It is easy to become excited when I speak of our

efforts in addressing the issue of women in

development, but we will not let down our guard. In

Saint Kitts and Nevis, we have recognized and

benefited from gender equality and the empowerment

of women. It may be recalled that Saint Kitts and Nevis

was among the first in this hemisphere to create a

Ministry Of Women’s Affairs.

Equally important to the Government of Saint

Kitts and Nevis is winning the war against poverty. We

remain steadfast in our efforts to eliminate poverty,

which is not simply a noble ideal. It is a practical,

achievable objective and, by God, it is the right thing

to do. In Saint Kitts and Nevis, in the last seven years,

we have endured social and economic dislocations in

the wake of several catastrophic natural disasters, 9/11

and the downturns in the global economy. Nonetheless,

with due care and attention to prudent fiscal and

monetary management, we are investing in the socio-

economic development of our country and continue to

place people first in all that we do.

My Government has invested greatly in our

national health system, supported by the construction

of a modern hospital and the professional development

of health care workers. We believe that this will

improve the quality of and access to health care for

nationals and visitors alike. Our continued efforts to

build a healthy nation are consistent with our resolve to

reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.

Our capital project investments have improved

the existing distribution networks to satisfy demand

and to better extend service coverage for potable water

throughout the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Our

road improvement and maintenance programmes have

resurfaced miles of road and improved drainage

throughout the twin island Federation. The

improvement of the tourism product has generated

several new jobs consistent with my Government’s

people-focused agenda. It has allowed us to depend

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less on an agriculture-based economy, which continues

to suffer from Government subsidies offered to farmers

in large countries. Such subsidies make it more

difficult for small economies like mine to compete.

Our capacity to compete is further undermined by the

recent unilateral decision of the European Union to

reduce the price of sugar by more than 30 per cent.

Despite these challenges, we continue to press on,

mindful of the need to preserve the environment. Saint

Kitts and Nevis are two beautiful islands faced with the

geographic reality of being located in the hurricane

corridor. We witness the cost of beach and coastal

erosion resulting from rising sea levels and hurricanes.

Integrating environmentally sustainable policies into

our development agenda has been a real challenge.

However, our determination to protect and preserve the

islands’ patrimony by adopting environmentally

friendly programmes is imperative.

At this juncture, I need to emphasize the current

situation facing small island developing States. All

small island developing States lack the economy of

scale to overcome their vulnerabilities on their own.

We are extremely vulnerable unless we form

geographical partnerships, as CARICOM has done.

That, however, does not exempt us from the

vulnerabilities that we face every day. Geographical

partnership does allow for a quick response in the

event of adversity.

My delegation urges the international community

to accept the concept of vulnerability, leading to a

vulnerability index that can be appropriately applied to

small island developing States. Grenada’s devastation

within three hours of being struck by hurricane Ivan

dramatizes for us how a generation of development

progress can be wiped out in a small vulnerable nation.

There is a pressing need for a global development fund

to assist small island developing States in recovery

following national disasters.

Pragmatic and productive partnerships are the

most effective vehicle available to the international

community to tackle the multitude of problems we

face. We speak of important issues, such as democracy,

globalization, terrorism, poverty eradication, human

development and the spread of infectious disease, as if

they were completely disconnected. The goal of human

development on any scale is best achieved by

recognizing the interconnectedness of our lives, our

economies and our policies. That imposes an obligation

to develop common strategies, partnerships and policy

approaches that accept and address the intrinsic

linkages among the problems facing nation States.

I submit that the Pan-Caribbean Partnership

Against HIV/AIDS is the first and only regional

mechanism created to deal with the pandemic in a

multinational way. Our regional cooperation has led to

reductions in the cost of antiretroviral drugs from

$20,000 per person per year to $200 per patient per

year. We have also been successful in negotiating

reduced prices for other important pharmaceutical

drugs. That experience speaks to the value of

partnership and cooperation. We believe that networks

are the most effective means of problem solving. We

praise the efforts of the Global Fund and the United

Nations for their work in mobilizing additional

resources to treat people living with HIV/AIDS and to

fight the spread of the disease.

The idea of fighting HIV/AIDS only through

faith simplifies the human condition and suggests a

misunderstanding of the nature and scope of the

disease. My Government insists that a pragmatic policy

approach to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS is as

fundamental to good governance as is the holding of

free and fair elections. Good governance means

Governments listening to and caring for their citizens.

Good governance implies that leaders must lead with

moral courage and take bold and sometimes

controversial steps in the public interests.

Good governance means placing the United

Nations at the centre of our international interaction, in

accordance with and in full respect for the Charter.

Good governance requires respect for every country’s

right to choose its own course, consistent with its own

laws and the will of its people. Good governance is not

simply about whether we ostracize a country if its

policies run counter to our national agenda. It should

be about creating better understanding, cooperation and

partnership and building bridges of friendship. Good

governance suggests to us in Saint Kitts and Nevis that

Governments abide by and commit themselves to

internationally recognized standards and principles and

do not discard them when it becomes expedient. Good

governance entails holding everyone to the same

standard and not raising the bar for some countries and

lowering it for others.

Good governance should propel us to recognize

the fact that nearly 23 million people in the Republic of

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China on Taiwan are essentially in a diplomatic black

hole, alienated from our international discourse. Good

governance requires all peace-loving nations to urge

both sides of the Taiwan Straits not only to commit to,

but also to engage in constructive dialogue and

preventive diplomacy. Good governance behooves us

to support the hard work of the leaders and people of

the Republic of China on Taiwan to comply with and

work within the framework of international law. Good

governance says to us in Saint Kitts and Nevis that a

people committed to the rule of law and democracy and

willing to invest in human development at home and

abroad should never be excluded from the fraternity of

nations.

In addition, CARICOM takes great pride in our

parliamentary system of Government and our solid

democracies from a centuries-old tradition. Our history

teaches us that good governance and human

development are indivisible. Where representative

democracy, democratic institution-building, freedom of

expression and the protection of human rights have not

flourished, human development has suffered. Where

Governments have failed to respect the will of the

people, human development has faltered. Although

CARICOM faces great limitations and challenges

owing to the absence of natural and financial resources,

we have managed to build credible democratic

institutions, a reliable judicial system and lasting

democracies in which the transition from incumbent

Governments to opposition parties passes without

incident. We are ready to share these experiences with

the rest of the world.

In conclusion, for decades countries and

academics have questioned the viability of small

States. History, though, has witnessed not only our

viability, but also that we are a dependable beacon of

hope for others, be they large or small. We live in an

interconnected world where national political decisions

in one corner of the world have devastating

consequences thousands of miles away.

We must therefore of necessity become our

brothers’ keepers. In that vein, we call on Member

States to lend their support to the international meeting

to review the Barbados Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, scheduled to be held in Mauritius in January

2005.

Finally, I would like to repeat my call that

partnership must trump nationalism and that

multilateralism must transcend unilateralism.