Saint Lucia, 2009

I wish to express the

warm congratulations of the delegation of Saint Lucia

to Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his election to serve as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth

session. With his vast diplomatic experience, we are

most confident that this session will yield significant

results in advancing the agenda of the international

community through this most universal of institutions,

the General Assembly, which has been rightly

described by his predecessor, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto

Brockmann, as the “Group of 192”. We express our

appreciation for the work of Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann,

who succeeded in further elevating the Assembly so

that it could regain its rightful place as the parliament

of the world. We pledge to work with Mr. Treki in the

furtherance of that approach. We also thank Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon for his tireless efforts on behalf

of us all.

When developing countries agreed to the

ambitious but necessary Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) and the internationally agreed

development goals, few, if any, foresaw that the winds

would be contrary, the storms fierce and the course

ahead so challenging. We are more than halfway to the

2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium

Development Goals, and Governments in the

developing world are still struggling to meet their

objectives. That situation, of course, is the result of

developing countries facing unforeseen economic

hardship as a result of crisis after crisis that for the

most part are not of our own making. While the

developed world appears to be in the infant stages of

recovery, the developing countries are still in the wake

of this crisis and are struggling to find calmer waters.

In that connection, it is important that the Doha

Round of trade negotiations be reshaped as a

development round, with emphasis on substantially

reducing the tariff and non-tariff barriers that have

been imposed by developed countries, especially

regarding agricultural products.

The matter of substantive debt relief to permit the

developing countries to utilize their limited resources

for national development must also be given the most

serious consideration. The MDGs are still achievable,

but the developed countries must meet their agreed

commitments if those objectives are to be attained in a

manner consistent with the global timetable.

While all of the MDGs are relevant to the

development aspirations of the people of my country

and of the region, we believe that education, poverty

alleviation and the strengthening of institutions for

good governance are pivotal to this process. These

must form the bedrock for overall development. So,

despite sluggish advancement towards the achievement

of all the Goals, we have made significant progress in

the areas of poverty and hunger, universal education

and gender equality. My own country boasts gender

parity in wage employment in the non-agricultural

sector, a long-standing problem in our region.

Despite such progress, continued improvement is

required in the other priority areas of reducing child

mortality and promoting maternal health.

Unfortunately, as I speak here, my Government is

grappling with the loss of a hospital on the southern

part of the island that burned down two weeks ago,

with loss of life. We have launched an appeal for

assistance and hope that those most able to do so will

help generously.

We in Saint Lucia are observing the current

global state of affairs through bifocal lenses; we see

both challenges and opportunity — an opportunity to

take bold new steps and think outside the box in

tackling the issues that confront us. The right mix of

appropriate policy interventions, strong political will

and strategic partnerships supported by development

stakeholders is certain to help countries such as Saint

Lucia achieve the Millennium Development Goals in a

timely manner. Therefore, hope is not completely lost.

Higher prices for food, fuel and other essentials

forced most Governments of developing countries to

divert already scarce resources in order to subsidize

those commodities for the poorest in our societies. That

then put pressure on their ability to repay debts and,

together with mismanagement within the world

financial sector, triggered a global financial and

economic crisis.

The world conference held here at United Nations

Headquarters last June to assess the worst global

economic downturn since the Great Depression

succeeded in identifying immediate and long-term

measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially

on developing countries, and to begin the necessary

09-52604 24

international deliberations on the restructuring of the

international financial architecture. Saint Lucia and the

rest of the Caribbean Community welcomed the

initiative, and we participated fully in the deliberations.

Saint Lucia therefore supports the measures

called for in the outcome document (resolution 63/303,

annex) to sustain the initiative while also providing the

machinery necessary for the continued monitoring of

the world economy. To that end, we emphasize the

importance of strengthening the capacity, effectiveness

and efficiency of the United Nations and of making the

international financial institutions more compassionate

in their responses and their assistance to national

development strategies. We look forward to analysing

the report of the ad hoc open-ended working group of

the Assembly on the implementation of the mandate, as

well as the reports of the Secretary-General on the

global food security crisis, the International Labour

Organization report on the Global Jobs Pact and the

contributions of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to the

new development financing agenda.

The most pressing issue and challenge facing

Saint Lucia, and indeed the rest of the world, is climate

change. It has emerged as the most serious

developmental challenge facing mankind today —

hence, the demands for collective action and an urgent

response. We are extremely concerned that the adverse

effects of climate change are constantly altering access

to basic resources such as land, water and food.

Decreased accessibility threatens social security, a

daily reality for many of us around the world. We may

not disappear, as the Maldives will, if nothing is done,

but it will certainly be expensive to survive.

On 21 September 2009, heads of member States

of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States

(AOSIS) adopted a declaration on climate change that

spelled out some of the pressing issues that need to be

addressed by all States. Before that we had the 1994

Barbados Programme of Action; the final communiqué

of the 1999 AOSIS Heads of Government Meeting; the

outcome document of the General Assembly’s special

session held in 1999 to review and assess the Barbados

Programme (resolution S-22/2), and the adoption in

2005 of the Mauritius Strategy for Further

Implementation. All represented extensive legislative

authority for concerted international action and clearly

set forth the position of the most vulnerable States.

That extensive mandate provides the framework

for a strategy to arrest the impact of climate change

that can lead to the emergence of a sustainable world

for present and future generations. The 2007 high-level

event on climate change, held to discuss “The future in

our hands: addressing the leadership challenge of

climate change”, was also instructive in reinforcing the

mandates of earlier sessions. Alas, it seems the rest of

the world has not seen the urgency for action.

For our part, Saint Lucia and other Caribbean

States have pledged to take voluntary mitigation

measures to ensure our collective survival. We are

working assiduously to formulate policies and review

legislation to develop our renewable energy potential

in wind, solar and geothermal power. We will intensify

efforts to preserve our limited forest cover, which

serves to protect our water supply and biodiversity and

is an important factor in carbon sequestration. For us

these are critical survival measures.

Saint Lucia has joined with other CARICOM

member States to establish early-warning systems for

predicting disasters such as floods and hurricanes.

CARICOM heads of Government have also adopted

the Liliendaal Declaration on Climate Change and

Development, which expressed the commitment to

protect the region’s marine resources and ecosystems

and work towards fulfilling the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change objectives.

While these sustainable development practices

have long-term benefits, the financial investment

required to support them is very onerous for small

island developing States. We have indicated that our

Governments have been proactive; however, the small

island developing States still need financial support to

enhance their capacity to respond to challenges brought

on by climate change. Let me reiterate that these

problems are not of our doing. Lack of access to cost-

effective, affordable and environmentally sound

technologies significantly threatens to stall or reverse

progress already made. Nor will mitigation be enough

if not supported by adaptation measures. We therefore

urge States to fulfil their commitment to the Adaptation

Fund, which will help us cope with changes that have

made life difficult for many peoples.

We the small island developing States and least

developed countries have joined together to demand,

appeal and even beg, if necessary, that the new

Copenhagen climate agreement limit temperature

25 09-52604

increases to the attainable level of 1.5 degrees Celsius,

as it is possible that anything above that will be

devastating to our very existence. We urge other

inhabitants of planet Earth to be understanding and

cooperative as we work to seal the deal in Copenhagen.

If we cannot reverse or slow the effects of climate

change, all other activities, as noble as they may be,

will be useless to mankind.

Our efforts to advance our own development

progress are sometimes derailed because of a lack of

resources and a peculiar grouping that excludes many

States from access to certain types of aid, loans and/or

development assistance currently available only to

least developed States — ironically, because of our

success in managing our affairs. It would appear that

we are being punished for being prudent in the

management of our limited resources.

Middle-income countries like Saint Lucia

continue to face significant challenges in reducing

poverty, servicing debt and achieving the Millennium

Development Goals. My Government is pleased to note

that the United Nations and the international financial

institutions have recognized that there is a need to

address the development needs of middle-income

countries and to reinforce global support for their

development efforts. We are cognizant that this group

of countries is not homogeneous and that individual

economic and social circumstances must be taken into

account. However, as a group, we deserve greater

attention from the donor community and the United

Nations system. We hope our pleas do not fall on deaf

ears, and that assistance will not come too late.

While we bemoan the slow pace of assistance

from the North, we appreciate the efforts of our

traditional friends — the United Kingdom, the United

States, Canada, France, the European Union, Japan, to

name a few — to meet their official development

assistance targets and agreed commitments. However,

the significance of cooperation among developing

countries cannot be overlooked. South-South

cooperation has become an effective tool for economic

development and foreign policy and constitutes one of

the most important dimensions of international

cooperation for development, particularly in the

context of globalization and liberalization. South-South

cooperation is also an imperative to complement

North-South cooperation and strengthen the

institutional capacities of the countries of the South to

engage in sustainable development practices. An ever-

changing global landscape has impelled developing

countries to take initiatives to safeguard one another’s

common interests, since they possess diverse assets

that can nonetheless be complementary.

That has been our goal within CARICOM, and

we thank the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for

so often leading the way on such matters. The

Government of Saint Lucia also wishes to express its

gratitude for the assistance provided by the Republic of

Cuba, whose international medical assistance

programme has served the people of the region, the

wider hemisphere and beyond. And we express our

appreciation for the support we have received from

other countries in our region, including the Latin

American States of Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, to

name a few.

The historic cultural ties between Africa and the

Caribbean are well known, and cooperation between

our two regions is being strengthened through recent

developments such as the African Union Diaspora

Initiative and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean

States Secretariat. We in Saint Lucia have received

support from the Kuwaiti funds to assist in

infrastructure development. In short, we are reaching

out to the world for cooperation and collaboration in

the advancement of our development efforts, within the

framework of respect for each other and for

humankind.

That is why the Government of Saint Lucia joins

with other delegations in extending our deep

condolences to the Government and people of Taiwan

following the devastation and loss of life caused by the

disastrous Typhoon Morakot in August. Taiwan has

assisted Saint Lucia in the areas of education,

agriculture, health and other fields critical to our

development efforts. Their assistance in agriculture,

especially, has enabled us to improve our output and

position ourselves for breaking into the food export

market. Taiwan has extended a helping hand to all

those who have requested it. It seeks only to be part of

the family of nations and to share its knowledge and

expertise with the rest of the world. That is not too

much to ask. We are pleased to note that some positive

steps have been taken in this respect, and we hope they

will continue, with other agencies opening their doors

to participation and thus to enable 23 million people to

make their contribution to their fellow human beings

and to realize their aspirations, as we in Saint Lucia did

30 years ago.

09-52604 26

We also extend our sympathies to the

Government and people of the Philippines for the loss

of life and destruction caused by Typhoon Ketsana

three days ago.

Saint Lucia joins with other CARICOM countries

in expressing profound concern and deep

disappointment with the decision by the Administering

Power to dissolve the Government and legislature in

the non-self-governing territory of the Turks and

Caicos Islands, an associate member of CARICOM.

We call for a speedy return to democratic governance,

without which the territory’s participation in the

regional integration process will be in jeopardy.

Economic diversification for small States is

critical to their ability to remain competitive in an ever

more globalized economy, and many small States have

developed vibrant financial service industries that have

evolved as clean, competitive industries in a world

economy increasingly dependent on services. Clearly,

the competitiveness of tax rates and international tax

compensation are fundamental tools of globalization

and represent one of the few areas where small States

have been able to enter this new economy from a

competitive position. To this end Saint Lucia joined

with other CARICOM States last July in adopting the

Liliendaal Declaration on the Financial Sector: A New

Framework for Financial Regulation and Supervision

in the Region.

It is important to note that the regional policy

contains provisions for continued improvement in

standards for disclosure, transparency and corporate

governance for both public and private companies.

However, despite our best efforts, international

financial centres in the Caribbean and elsewhere have

recently been under intense pressure from high-tax

nations. Saint Lucia joins our regional partners in

continuing to enhance transparency by the

strengthening of regulatory frameworks. We stand with

our CARICOM colleagues in calling for equitable

treatment in accord with that granted to the developed

countries and other preferential jurisdictions.

It matters little if we are rich if we are insecure in

our homes and our country. And that is why in recent

years the issue of small arms and light weapons has

emerged as a major source of concern to us. Small

developing States like Saint Lucia continue to be

threatened by the disturbing spread of small arms. The

illicit introduction of those weapons into our societies

has created a heavy burden in our region, which has

seen the emergence of an unacceptable level of gun

violence, worsened by the social distress caused by the

economic and financial crisis. Saint Lucia reiterates its

support for the implementation of relevant General

Assembly resolutions addressing the illicit trade of

small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, most

recently resolution 63/72 of 2 December 2008. Saint

Lucia wishes also to express its continued support for

the full implementation of the international instruments

to enable States to identify and trace illicit small arms

and light weapons in a timely and reliable manner.

On top of all our financial problems it seems we

are asked to bear an unfair burden in relation to world

peace and security. While ensuring an effective funding

mechanism is the collective responsibility of the

membership, we concur that the future scale of

assessment should be constant, simple and transparent.

We fully support the view of the Committee on

Contributions that the scale should be based on gross

national income data, as that is the most accurate

reflection of one’s capacity to pay.

In the face of all the challenges outlined above

and in this present state of world affairs, it is no longer

pragmatic to utilize attenuated financial and technical

assistance schemes designed many years ago. They

have given way to development challenges that are

often of astronomical size as well as nebulous,

necessitating long-term, cumulative responses. In

short, the world is in crisis-management mode, and that

is seriously affecting the ability of developing

countries to move forward and onward to progress.

However, crisis management must be undertaken

with sustainable development in mind and integrated

into the policymaking processes by both donor and

recipient countries. Coordination and collaboration,

therefore, are essential within and among

Governments, organizations and local communities if a

sustainable and forward-looking approach is to be

achieved.

We chose as our theme for this session of the

Assembly “Effective responses to global crises:

strengthening multilateralism and dialogue among

civilizations for international peace, security and

development”. I hope that this body, made up of a

diverse group of countries, will work together towards

achieving the goals to which we all aspire.

27 09-52604

Like Jason in his good ship the Argo, fair Helen —

Saint Lucia — will brave the seas, chart a new course

and take our people to the heights of development and

dignity that befit a country that has produced two

Nobel Laureates.