Trinidad and Tobago, 2008

I am

honoured to be afforded the opportunity to address the

General Assembly at its sixty-third session. I also wish

to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. D’Escoto

Brockmann on his election to the presidency. I am

convinced that his wealth of experience, garnered over

the years in the different capacities in which he has

served and his strong conviction of the importance of

multilateralism and respect for international law, will

be brought to bear in a most positive and productive

way on the proceedings of the session. Further,

Trinidad and Tobago is gratified that Nicaragua and, by

extension, Central America, has been graced with the

distinct honour of guiding the work of the sixty-third

session.

At the same time, my delegation wishes to

express our heartfelt appreciation and admiration for

the way in which His Excellency Srgjan Kerim of the

former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia conducted the

affairs of the General Assembly during the last session.

The Secretary-General must be commended,

particularly for his untiring efforts in ensuring that

humanitarian relief is brought to thousands of victims

of natural disasters, including in the Caribbean. Given

the increasing frequency and ferocity of hurricanes and

other similar climatic phenomena, there is dire need for

the provision of early warning systems and capacity-

building programmes in vulnerable regions like the

Caribbean, aimed at enhancing planning and

preparedness and at mitigating the effects of such

disasters. We applaud all efforts to bring relief to those

affected.

The President returned to the Chair.

The recent disasters bring into sharp focus the

imperative of purposeful action on the problems of

climate change at the national, regional and

international levels. Trinidad and Tobago is committed

to adopting concrete measures aimed at reducing its

levels of greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same

time promoting balanced industrialization and

environmental sustainability.

Notwithstanding its current healthy endowment

of hydrocarbon resources, Trinidad and Tobago

recognizes the need to promote clean energy

alternatives, the development of new and renewable

energy options and the proper protection and

management of the nation’s forests. Indeed, the

Government is putting into effect appropriate policies

for substantial results in that area. We hope to achieve

meaningful progress, in cooperation with development

partners within the public and private sectors, both

locally and internationally, and with civil society.

Cooperation at the international level is also

indispensable to efforts aimed at addressing the current

energy crisis. Trinidad and Tobago is seeking to partner

with its African friends in order to, among other things,

identify ways of developing long-term strategies for

the sustainable development and utilization of their

energy resources. That is in keeping with the pledge

made by The Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime

Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in

2007, when he addressed the eighth Summit of the

African Union, in Ethiopia. Since then, discussions

have ensued with individual African States and with

the Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS), to advance the initiative. The Government

of Trinidad and Tobago is eager to work assiduously

towards the attainment of our common objectives.

Trinidad and Tobago firmly believes that the

United Nations must take the lead in the management

of the global food crisis, in which we are confronted

with a situation of losing thousands to hunger on an

almost daily basis. We embrace the various multilateral

initiatives to address that grave challenge, including

the establishment by the Secretary-General of the

High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security

Crisis in April 2008 and the adoption of its

Comprehensive Framework for Action.

The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is

one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to

be achieved by 2015. We cannot allow the threat posed

by the global food crisis to reverse the strides made so

far by many developing countries to achieve that Goal.

We must utilize all the resources at our disposal,

including a recommitment to the Food and Agriculture

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Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which was

established to help developing countries and countries

in transition modernize and improve agriculture and

fisheries practices and to ensure good nutrition for

their citizens. We must work in concert to provide that

institution with the resources necessary to discharge

effectively its mandates. If we fail to win the war

against that common enemy, we will be compromising

the right to food and by extension the right to life of

millions of people.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has

embraced a number of key policy initiatives that are

designed to guarantee our citizens access to food of

sufficient quality and quantity and to reduce the impact

of the food crisis. Thousands of acres have been made

available for diversified agricultural production. In

addition, capital is accessible to farmers through our

national Agricultural Development Bank.

Trinidad and Tobago recognizes that food

security must also be pursued in the context of the

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and

Economy, which provides the opportunity for the

integration of production and cross-border investment

in agricultural production in those countries which

have greater agricultural potential and resources. The

Government of Trinidad and Tobago therefore hosted,

jointly with the CARICOM secretariat and the Food

and Agriculture Organization, a regional agriculture

donor conference in June 2007.

Similarly, like poverty and hunger, terrorism

remains a major scourge on our societies and poses a

direct threat to democratic institutions. It undermines

the rule of law, infringes human rights and generally

affects the well-being of its victims. Trinidad and

Tobago is convinced that members of the international

community must embrace multilateral solutions in the

fight against terrorism. We remain committed to the

United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy,

which is complementary to our own efforts to combat

terrorism.

Trinidad and Tobago views the reform of the

Security Council as indispensable to the transformation

and further democratization of the United Nations. As a

small island developing State, Trinidad and Tobago

wishes to reiterate its position on Security Council

reform, which emphasizes the need for, among other

things, equity of access for small States to the Security

Council and the need for representation of all regions

of the world in its permanent membership. Failure to

reform the Security Council could serve to undermine

that organ’s authority as the body with the primary

responsibility for the maintenance of international

peace and security, as well as its ability to discharge its

other obligations under Chapter VII of the Charter of

the United Nations.

Trinidad and Tobago is convinced that the United

Nations remains the principal vehicle for meaningful

exchanges between members of the international

community on matters of international concern. Such

deliberations, in our view, constitute the bedrock of the

democratization of the United Nations system and are

for us a priority consideration. We recognize therefore

the great value of the informal consultations on

system-wide coherence aimed at making the

Organization deliver as one.

Further progress on that issue during the current

session is imperative for the United Nations

development system to be able to provide Member

States, particularly developing countries, with the

assistance required to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals and the other internationally

agreed development goals.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has

charted a development policy to achieve the MDGs

within the stipulated period, as well as to transform the

country to developed status by the year 2020. The pace

of economic growth over the past decade has

fortunately enabled us to surpass MDG targets in

achieving universal primary education, promoting

gender equality, empowering women and significantly

reducing the level of poverty.

Trinidad and Tobago’s development strategy

exceeds the MDG targets in some respects. The

Government of Trinidad and Tobago has been able to

provide free secondary and tertiary education to its

citizens. In addition, 30 per cent of our cabinet

ministers and members of parliament are women.

Regrettably, for many developing States, the

achievement of the MDGs within the stipulated period

appears to be elusive. We therefore urge all

development partners to honour their commitments and

pledges already agreed upon.

Another important international process to which

Trinidad and Tobago attaches great importance is the

review of the implementation of the Monterrey

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Consensus on Financing for Development, which will

be addressed at a follow-up international conference in

Doha, Qatar, in November. The Monterrey Consensus,

adopted by heads of State or Government in 2002,

called for the mobilization of resources to assist

developing countries in meeting the MDGs and

recognized the importance of coherence and

consistency within and among the international

monetary, financial and trading systems in support of

overall development. While there have been some

advances under the key pillars of financing for

development, they have not been sufficiently

far-reaching. In the light of the current financial crisis,

the timing for the convening of the follow-up

conference is most timely and presents an opportunity

for the forging of global partnerships in a spirit of

solidarity. A key component for success will be an

ongoing engagement between Governments and all

stakeholders, including the private sector and civil

society.

Trinidad and Tobago is committed to the regional

integration movement of CARICOM and has continued

to provide economic assistance to our CARICOM

partners within the ambit of that multilateral

framework and other bilateral arrangements. One such

arrangement is Trinidad and Tobago’s Petroleum

Development Fund, a facility that only recently was

drawn upon to provide substantial assistance to some

of our Caribbean neighbours in the aftermath of recent

hurricanes. Another is the CARICOM Trade Support

Programme, a comprehensive loan facility of $16.5

million that is aimed at improving the trade capacity of

CARICOM States by providing assistance in the

diversification of their economies and in improving

trade capacity.

The Caribbean also falls prey to the nefarious

trade in narcotics, to which the illegal proliferation of

small arms and light weapons is linked. In an effort to

confront these challenges, we have concluded with our

neighbours the CARICOM Maritime and Air Space

Security Cooperation Agreement to protect our borders

from illegal activities. We recognize, however, the

important role of the United Nations as the premier

multilateral forum in providing assistance in areas such

as capacity-building to augment our own resources. For

the States of the Caribbean, a critical aspect of

disarmament is the eradication of the illegal trade in

small arms. Trinidad and Tobago therefore calls for

urgent action to complete the work on the elaboration

of an arms trade treaty.

In the context of our efforts to address the

challenge, we also wish to call again for consideration

to be given to the inclusion of international drug

trafficking as one of the crimes within the jurisdiction

of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It is of great significance to us that the very year

we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of

the Rome Statute of the ICC, we also commemorate the

sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights. Since its establishment,

the ICC has been able to attract 100 States parties,

issue arrest warrants and begin trials of persons

accused of committing crimes of major concern to the

international community. The perpetrators of genocide,

crimes against humanity and war crimes show flagrant

disregard for the human rights of their victims, as well

as for human rights law and humanitarian law, none of

which should go unpunished.

The United Nations has played a seminal role in

the promotion and development of international law,

which has contributed to the maintenance of

international peace and security and friendly relations

among States. As a small State, Trinidad and Tobago

views adherence to and respect for the rule of law as a

bulwark against intrusions that could affect our

territorial integrity, independence and economic

development and the general well-being of our

citizens. However, we are conscious of the need for

international cooperation in the implementation of

international legal obligations under various

conventions that provide mutual benefits to Member

States.

One area of which the United Nations can be

justly proud is the conclusion of the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Convention has

worked well since its adoption and entry into force,

and it has provided legal certainty to activities carried

out by States in different maritime zones. In keeping

with our obligations under the Convention, Trinidad

and Tobago is in the process of completing work on its

submission to the Commission on the Limits of the

Continental Shelf by May 2009 to extend its

continental shelf jurisdiction beyond 200 nautical miles

from the baselines from which the breadth of the

territorial sea is measured. We do so with full respect

29 08-53129

for the sovereign right of other coastal States to make

similar submissions to the Commission.

Our region is home to the International Seabed

Authority, which is located in Jamaica. The Authority’s

mandate is derived from the Convention, and it is

entrusted with the responsibility to administer the

resources of the International Seabed Area, which is

the common heritage of mankind. As in previous years,

we again call on all members of the Authority to make

every effort to attend its meetings.

In conclusion, Trinidad and Tobago wishes to

reaffirm its faith in and commitment to multilateralism

at the regional, hemispheric and international levels.

Dialogue among States must always be the preferred

option for solving the myriad problems that we face in

an increasingly complex international environment. It

is in recognition of this importance that Trinidad and

Tobago has taken the bold decision to host in 2009

both the Summit of the Americas and the

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Dialogue in those two bodies, which are microcosms of

the United Nations, could also influence discussions at

the United Nations, an institution that we must

continue to transform, guard and protect, in order to be

able to bequeath it to future generations.