Trinidad and Tobago, 1996

It is a great

honour for me to extend to Mr. Razali Ismail our warmest

congratulations, on behalf of the delegation of Trinidad and

Tobago, on his election as President of this session of the

General Assembly.

As the United Nations begins the second half-century

of its existence, and as the international community seeks

to renew and reshape the Organization to deal with the

challenges of the approaching millennium, the Trinidad and

Tobago delegation is particularly pleased to see the

stewardship of the General Assembly in the hands of a

leader and a friend of Mr. Razali’s calibre.

My delegation would also like to express its deep

appreciation to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Diogo

Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, for the able manner in which

he presided over the historic fiftieth session of the

General Assembly.

Today more than ever, we live in a global age, an

age of immeasurable possibilities and opportunities

engendered by advances in technology, the information

revolution and globalization; but it is also an age full of

peril, one characterized by complex and myriad

challenges, many of which we have yet to understand

fully or come to terms with.

In this age of globalization and fragmentation,

traditional national and international structures are

becoming increasingly inadequate to deal with current

realities. Nation States are also more frequently

confronting the need to find acceptable means by which

to yield elements of their sovereignty through regional

and multilateral action, in order to deal effectively with

global forces that are invariably transnational in nature.

In this sea of change in international relations, the

whole concept of international security has increasingly

moved away from the bipolar view, concerned largely

with military security, to one which assigns a central role

to sustainable development and the welfare of the

individual. The major actors in the international arena are

no longer solely nation States, but also economic agents

with a global reach and non-governmental organizations

with a growing global influence.

Yet these powerful forces that are inexorably pulling

us together are also simultaneously tearing us apart,

engendering fragmentation, reactivating age-old conflicts,

and threatening more than ever to marginalize and leave

behind large segments of humanity in the march to

progress. Among some of the more powerful and

industrialized countries, the fears of active integration and

engagement are leading to temptations to look inward and

to become more isolationist and more protectionist. In

addition, the problems of persistent poverty, increasing

unemployment, debilitating debt, declining levels of

official development assistance, environmental

degradation, drug abuse and drug trafficking, crime,

terrorism and social disintegration have combined to

present a formidable array of challenges, which, if left

unaddressed, threaten to overwhelm us and further

marginalize the vulnerable and disadvantaged among us.

In this new global environment, we are at a critical

crossroads, and in many ways the decisions that confront

us in the international community on the eve of the

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twenty-first century are no less important than those that

confronted us at the end of the war to end all wars.

In this evolving global society, the choices are clear.

Will we allow the world to drift towards the dangerous

anarchy of spheres of influence and unchecked

confrontation? Or will we commit ourselves to greater

cooperation inherent in the call to global neighbourhood

action? Will we allow ethnic conflicts and “ethnic

cleansing” to continue? Or will we resolutely resist the

primitive impulses by devising mechanisms to avoid

repetitions of these phenomena, wherever they occur?

Will we grasp the new opportunity for global

prosperity, or will we allow the common global enemies to

overwhelm us? Will we help to alleviate the crisis in

multilateralism and give to the world of the twenty-first

century a reformed United Nations, true to the ideals of the

founding fathers, or will we increasingly move in the

direction of unilateralism, seeking to use the United Nations

for narrow self-interest? Finally, will we give to the world

a new global order, true to the letter and spirit of the

fiftieth anniversary Declaration, and based on the

sustainable development agenda of the recent global

conferences, or will we build a world of two societies, one

getting progressively richer and the other progressively

poorer?

We must not be afraid of challenges. Trinidad and

Tobago, as a small developing island State, with all the

concomitant vulnerability and fragility, has embarked on an

aggressive, outward-oriented strategy of development. This

strategy has been informed by the need to optimize our

ability to participate in a global economy that is becoming

increasingly knowledge-based, fiercely competitive and

volatile. Our development strategy has as its basic objective

the attainment of broad-based economic growth with social

equity. It assigns a special emphasis to trade, investment,

tourism, agriculture, services and the environment, and it

seeks, through a political process of inclusiveness and

empowerment, to mobilize all of our human resources in

the task of building a sustainable democracy.

In November 1995, the new Government of Trinidad

and Tobago, which I have the honour to lead, assumed

office through the medium of the ballot box. The peaceful

and democratic transfer of power that took place at that

time was further ample testimony to the political maturity

of our peoples, and the political stability that we in

Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean have been fortunate

to enjoy.

In any democracy, however, one must be eternally

vigilant, constantly striving to enhance the democratic

tradition and strengthen the democratic process. It is in

this context that I have sought to establish a Government

of National Unity, committed to partnership-building at all

levels. Special emphasis has been placed on the

devolution of power from central to local government

authorities, so as to facilitate greater participation in the

democratic process. A National Multipartite Commission,

comprising representatives of labour, business,

Government, non-governmental organizations and the

Inter-Religious Organization, has been established and

entrusted with the task of formulating a comprehensive

plan of action to take us into the twenty-first century. The

aim of these and other measures is to build a truly

participatory society, empowering all of our peoples.

In the social arena, we have sought to create a viable

social pact among business, labour and Government, built

on consultation, partnership and consensus, so as to

provide stability, trust and transparency in industrial

relations. We have also sought, through our social

programmes, to place special emphasis on the

disadvantaged and dispossessed, with a view to providing

them with the necessary support, training and skills for

effective participation in our society. In this regard, a

Change Management Unit for Poverty Eradication and

Equity Building has been established under the authority

of a senior Cabinet Minister. The unit is entrusted with

the responsibility of formulating an integrated, multi-

sectoral and sustained approach to poverty eradication,

and ensuring its implementation in all facets of the

Government’s economic and social policies. As a

complement to this Unit, the Government of Trinidad and

Tobago will, on 24 October 1996 — United Nations

Day — set up a National Social Development Council to

mobilize national action to deal with the homeless and the

poor. This innovative approach to poverty eradication is

being implemented in close cooperation with the United

Nations Development Programme, which has provided

timely support in this, the International Year for the

Eradication of Poverty. In keeping with the spirit of

Beijing and the Platform for Action of the Beijing

Conference, a vigorous policy and legislative agenda is

being formulated and implemented through a consultative

process, the objective being to optimize the role of

women as equal partners in the development process.

With regard to the environment, a comprehensive

legislative and policy framework has been put in place to

respond to the demands of sustainable development. This

new environmental regime will serve to ensure a

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“greening” of the Government’s own operations, while

simultaneously engaging the public and industry in a

partnership for responsible management, protection and

conservation of the environment.

Trinidad and Tobago’s economic programme places a

premium on trade, with the private sector as the engine of

growth in the economy. Some of the essential elements of

the strategy are the attraction of private investment flows,

creation of increased market access, and the implementation

of an appropriate industrial policy. This is being achieved

through the pursuit of a sound and stable macroeconomic

policy, supported by a prudent and disciplined fiscal and

monetary stance, and the delivery of an investor-friendly

institutional legal framework.

We in Trinidad and Tobago are under no illusions. All

of our national efforts will be in vain if we do not have a

supportive regional and international environment, as well

as access to a fair, open and non-discriminatory

international trading regime. Regional integration has

always been a fundamental component of the development

strategy of Trinidad and Tobago. Accordingly, our Republic

has built strategic alliances through the Caribbean

Community, the Rio Group and, more recently, the

Association of Caribbean States, comprising countries of

the wider Caribbean. We continue to be engaged actively

in efforts to deepen and broaden the integration process

within the region through initiatives that we hope will

culminate in formal relationships with the Central American

Common Market, the Andean Pact and the Southern Cone

Common Market (MERCOSUR). Our vision for the future

is a single free-trade area in the western hemisphere.

For small States like Trinidad and Tobago, greater

regional integration and cooperation are imperative if we

are to minimize the negative and pervasive effects of

globalization, while simultaneously laying the foundations

for our increased capacity to navigate the turbulent waters

of the expanding global economy.

Regionalism is a critical priority, but in today’s world

it must be conceived as a natural and essential complement

to wider international cooperation. The common evils of the

twenty-first century will require a common approach, a

common commitment. I can think of no other organization

more uniquely placed or more legitimate than the United

Nations to foster the global conscience, to fashion the

necessary understanding, to build the mutual partnerships,

and to organize the global cooperative effort.

In the field of sustainable development, the

continuum of global conferences, from Rio to Istanbul,

have laid down a global agenda, a development blueprint

for the twenty-first century. Yet as discussions on the

Agenda for Development have shown, there is a crisis of

commitment, particularly on the part of the developed

countries, to provide the required resources. “Donor

fatigue” and declining levels of official development

assistance threaten to render meaningless the global

understanding, consensus and Programmes of Action

forged in respect of the major issues and problems of our

times.

This negative mood imperils all of us, for it

threatens to subject some one fifth of the world’s

population, who live in poverty, to a life of perpetual

despair. But more than that, it ignores the fact that the

gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to

grow alongside the growth in world trade. It forgets the

message inherent in the common problems of our time:

that whether we like it or not, our progress, and

increasingly our security, is tied to that of our neighbours,

no matter how poor or how distant they may be. Finally,

it ignores the generally acknowledged fact that preventive

action to deal with the root causes of conflict is less

costly and more effective than corrective action.

Trinidad and Tobago also attaches the highest

priority to the fight against drug abuse and drug

trafficking. We have intensified our coordination activities

at the national level, and have systematically put in place

cooperative mechanisms with other Caribbean and Latin

American countries, as well as with other States whose

involvement is critical to the success of national and

regional efforts. We believe that the violence, the

corruption and the human despair which this menace

wreaks on societies in all corners of the globe, should

leave no doubt as to the imperative need for the United

Nations to accord priority attention to this question.

Trinidad and Tobago is therefore fully supportive of the

call for the convening in 1997 of an international

conference on this subject. My delegation wishes to

commend in particular the United Nations International

Drug Control Programme for its important contribution to

the multi-dimensional campaign against drug abuse and

illicit drug trafficking being waged within our Republic

and in the wider Caribbean and Latin American region.

We urge the Drug Control Programme to continue to

pursue a comprehensive and balanced approach to this

worldwide campaign, endeavouring to address equitably

the problems of demand, production and trafficking.

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In the field of international law, we have over the past

decades seen a number of new agreements in virtually all

branches of human activity. Trinidad and Tobago is

encouraged by the progress made during the fiftieth session

of the General Assembly towards the establishment of an

international criminal court. We look forward to a positive

recommendation for the completion of work during the

fifty-first session of the General Assembly in order to

realize the goal of a diplomatic conference in 1998 to adopt

the statute and establish the court. We in the international

community have the responsibility to create this global

institution with the requisite global jurisdiction, and to

equip it with the necessary authority to make it an effective,

impartial body, with the broadest possible participation of

States from all geographical regions. Meanwhile, Trinidad

and Tobago fully supports the activities of the International

Tribunals for the territories of the former Yugoslavia and

of Rwanda.

In the field of nuclear disarmament, the international

community last year indefinitely extended the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and, earlier this

month, the General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. These two developments have

served to promote non-proliferation and nuclear

disarmament. The international community must now,

however, focus its attention on the emerging consensus that

all nuclear explosions must be banned.

A related environmental concern to which Trinidad

and Tobago, the Caribbean and the Alliance of Small Island

Nations attach the greatest importance is that of the

continued shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium

and high-level radioactive wastes. At last year’s Review

Conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Trinidad and

Tobago and the Alliance of Small Island Nations was able,

after long and intensive negotiations, to obtain agreement

on specific language registering the concerns of small

island developing States and other coastal States on this

issue.

The considerations which led us to pursue that

initiative then are still relevant now. These shipments

continue to take place despite the potentially catastrophic

effects on small island developing States, whose fragile and

vulnerable economies are overwhelmingly dependent on

their marine and coastal resources, and who possess neither

the resources nor the capability to deal with possible

accidents of this nature. Trinidad and Tobago would

therefore like to reiterate the priority concern we attach to

this issue, and to urge the shipment countries to respect the

wishes of small island developing States and other en-route

States, which have called for an end to these shipments

through their archipelagic and territorial waters, as well as

their exclusive economic zones.

The notions of shared responsibilities and collective

action are the raison d’être of the United Nations system.

As we prepare to face the new challenges of the twenty-

first century, these notions assume a critical relevance.

Trinidad and Tobago is convinced that the United Nations

has the capacity to reconcile these opposing forces of

globalization and fragmentation in the interests of us all.

The United Nations also has the strength and legitimacy

to transform the fears and perils of the new age into a

constructive global partnership of cooperation and

solidarity. Trinidad and Tobago pledges to work with

others to harness this potential and to confront the

challenges which face the Organization and the

international community as we move towards the new

millennium.