I would like to begin
by congratulating you, President Ashe, from our sister
island of Antigua and Barbuda, which is also a member
of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and
the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on your well-
deserved election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. The Government
and the people of the Commonwealth of Dominica are
proud of your appointment and wish you success in
presiding over the General Assembly. We also express
our appreciation and gratitude to your predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Vuk Jeremi., for his guidance during
the sixty-seventh session.
Thirteen years after collectively committing to
meeting the needs of the poorest among us by attaining
our noble Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
we have made some progress globally, but we are
still far from fully reaching our targets. Despite the
challenges brought about by an increasingly hostile
global environment, Dominica has made meaningful
progress towards the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. The Government of Dominica
has accepted that it is through the development of our
human resources that we will be able to truly attain
development that is inclusive and sustainable. As a
result, our Government has kept our people at the centre
of development.
We have been able to bring significant
improvements in the lives of our people and to attain
all the Millennium Development Goals, despite our
limitations. We have reduced poverty and hunger
by more than half. Our children, boys and girls, now
have universal access to both primary and secondary
education, as well as expanded access to post-secondary
education and training. Our girls and women are not
only being treated as equals with boys and men but have
received tremendous support in improving their living
conditions. Our elderly people and children enjoy free
access to public health care.
Dominica has continued to maintain its coveted
title of “nature island of the Caribbean” by adhering to
self-imposed sustainable environmental practices over
the past several decades, a model that we hope more
States around the world can emulate.
As we approach 2015, we must resolve to take
stock. We must be forever mindful that those who are
condemned to poverty still await our intervention.
The more than 1 billion people who have known only
darkness at the end of each day long for at least one
light bulb in a rural home so that their children can have
opportunities for a brighter tomorrow. We have run out
of excuses for why we are still waiting to act or cannot
act. Rest assured that our people will judge us harshly
for failing to make a difference in their lives.
Despite the current global challenges, South-South
cooperation continues to play a significant role in
helping small countries like Dominica to achieve their
Millennium Development Goals. The Government and
people of Dominica express their sincere gratitude to
the Governments of the People’s Republic of China,
Venezuela, Cuba, Morocco, the European Union, the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
and other bilateral and multilateral partners for the
tremendous contributions they have made, and continue
to make, in the development of our human-resource
capacity and infrastructure and in the implementation
of our public-sector investment programme.
Our commitment to the MDGs should consist of
a redoubling of efforts towards a post-2015 agenda
that will bring about development that is inclusive and
sustainable. The outcome of the 2012 United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development (resolution
66/288, annex) initiated an inclusive intergovernmental
process for preparing a set of sustainable development
goals (SDGs). My delegation believes that in order to
arrive at a global development agenda for the post-
2015 period, there must be close linkages between
the processes of the MDGs and the SDGs. The
Commonwealth of Dominica therefore aligns itself
with the theme set by you, Mr. President, “The post-
2015 development agenda: setting the stage”.
It is imperative that the development agenda
beyond 2015 remain the focus of the United Nations,
particularly in terms of relieving poverty and protecting
our planet. A meaningful agenda must take into account
the significance of the need for an international legally
binding commitment to combating climate change, the
development and deployment of sustainable energy, the
sustainable use of the oceans and marine resources,
sustainable industrial development, and international
peace and security.
My delegation applauds the leadership and vision
shown by the Secretary-General in declaring sustainable
energy to be one of the priorities of his second term.
We also congratulate the Secretary-General’s Advisory
Group on Energy and Climate Change, as well as
colleagues within and outside the United Nations
system, for their timely recommendations and for
bringing needed visibility to the subject of sustainable
energy. Their recommendations form the basis for one
of the most important initiatives ever launched by a
Secretary-General, namely, the Sustainable Energy for
All initiative, launched in 2011. Through that visionary
step, the Secretary-General has closed the gaping
energy-poverty gap in the MDGs.
Actions that will benefit our peoples should be
at the heart of the functions of the Assembly. The
Commonwealth of Dominica and other small and low-
lying developing States that are members of the Small
Island Developing States Sustainable Energy Initiative
are grateful to the Secretary-General for his dedication,
personal commitment and actions in helping to make
the Sustainable Energy for All initiative a reality.
That initiative stands to benefit our people across the
developing world and to contribute to more efficient
energy systems in developed countries.
The Commonwealth of Dominica maintains that
sustainable energy is the foundation for long-term
socioeconomic development. For that reason, Dominica
is pleased to have joined the Sustainable Energy for All
partnership. My Government, with assistance from
its development partners, is committed to increasing
renewable energy generation from the current 30 per
cent from hydro to 100 per cent by adding geothermal
energy to the mix. Our goal is to become not only
carbon-neutral but carbon-negative by 2020. That
ambition will be achieved by exporting renewable
energy to our neighbours, Guadeloupe and Martinique,
via submarine cables. We thank our partners, and
especially the Clinton Climate Initiative, part of the
Clinton Foundation, for their support in this endeavour.
That transformation to a sustainable energy
sector will deliver multiple significant benefits for
Dominica, including increasing employment from
new energy-service companies, minimizing foreign
-exchange transfers for petroleum imports, reducing
the cost of energy and minimizing the volatility and
unpredictability of energy prices. Recognizing the
inextricable link between energy and development, we
expect that sustainable energy will find its rightful place
on the agenda of the third International Conference on
Small Island Developing States, to be held in Apia,
Samoa, in 2014.
The Commonwealth of Dominica is privileged to
be the chair of the 31-member Steering Committee
of the Small Island Developing States Sustainable
Energy Initiative, which is charged with guiding the
development of the Initiative. I would therefore, on
behalf of our members, like to express our sincere
appreciation to the Governments of Denmark and Japan
for their recognition and their financial support to the
Initiative. The Initiative is well positioned to help tackle
the effects of climate change while at the same time
transforming energy sectors in small island developing
States such as Dominica.
Our Danish partners took the first bold move to
support the Initiative, which was the catalyst for support
from the Government of Japan. Assistance from Japan
will be invested in the first-ever ocean thermal energy
feasibility study in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Ocean thermal energy is a resource common to all
SIDS and represents a vast sustainable energy resource
that, once developed, could also address a number of
key climate-change adaptation challenges for islands,
specifically in the area of fresh water and improved
food security.
About two thirds of the world’s surface is covered
by oceans and seas connecting almost 90 per cent of the
world’s population. Oceans and seas remain the source
of food and livelihood for nearly 1 billion people. A post-
2015 agenda must address the important role of seas and
oceans to the survival of peoples throughout the world,
especially those who live on islands. A sustainable
development goal on oceans should therefore ensure that
all fish stocks are harvested sustainably and preserve
the health of the marine environment. That will require
the protection of marine areas, the reduction of ocean
acidification, the elimination of marine pollution and
the cessation of disruptive fishing practices.
There is general consensus that sustainable
development and poverty eradication should form
the core of the SDGs and the post-2015 development
agenda. We cannot address the issue of poverty
eradication without addressing the issues of wealth
creation and economic growth. Developing countries,
SIDS in particular, will be able to secure inclusive
and sustained economic growth only through the
development of the energy, agriculture and tourism
sectors and associated industries. Broad-based job
creation and the achievement of social goals, such as
education, women’s empowerment and health care,
require sustainable industrial development.
It must be underscored that, in the twenty-first
century, industrialization must be inclusive and
sustainable if all our present and future generations
are to benefit. It must incorporate all citizens and be
strategically tailored to preserve livelihoods for future
generations.
Sustainable development goals, however, cannot
be achieved in the midst of wars between or within
nations. The Commonwealth of Dominica condemns
the act of terrorism at the Westgate Shopping Mall in
Nairobi. We extend our condolences to the Government
and the people of Kenya and to the families of the
Kenyans and the foreign nationals who met their deaths
at the hands of those who have no respect for human
life. We must continue to fight terrorism in all its forms
and manifestations.
The economic embargo against our brothers and
sisters in Cuba continues to be a concern for us in the
Caribbean. Unilateral actions by the United States of
America continue to be the root cause of the suffering
of our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Cuba.
Our region of the Caribbean continues to witness the
unheeded call for the lifting of a half-century economic
embargo on our brothers and sisters. We call on the
Government of the United States to support the full
integration of the Cuban people into the global trading
system. That will help to improve their lives and allow
the world to benefit from the tremendous contributions
they are capable of making, especially in the areas of
science and technology.
The ongoing civil war in Syria continues to present
a major challenge to the international community.
The Commonwealth of Dominica joins CARICOM in
unreservedly condemning the use of chemical weapons,
which is a gross violation of international law. We call
on all parties involved in the conflict to bring an end
to the hostilities, which have claimed the lives of far
too many innocent civilians, especially children. The
world is watching. The role of the United Nations is
central to resolving the Syrian conflict. My delegation
supports the call of the Secretary-General for resolution
through dialogue and not through the use of military
force or any other such action. Lasting peace can be
achieved in Syria only through a negotiated political
settlement that will facilitate reconciliation. What is
required is the will of the international community to
further that process. We commend the efforts of the
United States of America and Russia in attempting to
eliminate chemical weapons in Syria and move towards
a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
As we prepare for Samoa 2014, the Commonwealth
of Dominica is keen to make concrete progress for
SIDS aimed at creating a future of prosperity and
opportunity for all of our peoples. In that regard, my
Government calls for a renewed political commitment
by all countries to effectively address the special needs
and vulnerabilities of SIDS. We believe that this will
require consolidated effort focused on pragmatic actions
for the further implementation of the Barbados Plan of
Action and the Mauritius Strategy. Dominica laments
the fact that international financial mechanisms have
failed to fully recognize and support the vulnerabilities
of SIDS, which must be allowed access to financing
for development. The United Nations system needs to
be strengthened to implement the Barbados Plan and
Mauritius Strategy.
On 2 April, the Commonwealth of Dominica was
one of an overwhelming majority of Member States
that voted in favour of the first international treaty to
regulate the trade of conventional weapons — the Arms
Trade Treaty (ATT). Today, we are pleased that the ATT
is now a reality. That is a significant milestone, as such
regulations will serve to curb the illicit international
sale of conventional weapons to unscrupulous parties.
Moreover, the Commonwealth of Dominica is satisfied
that the ATT will close loopholes that allow terrorists
and other criminals to arm themselves and endanger
innocent lives. To that end, my delegation is pleased to
announce that Dominica has added its name to the list
of signatories to that Treaty.
Dominica, the nature island of the Caribbean,
continues to navigate through waters made turbulent
by a hostile international financial and trading system,
the continued impact of climate change, the movement
of small arms and light weapons from North to South,
and the international trade in illegal drugs and the
violence that they visit upon us. For those reasons, we
again reiterate the importance of international support
for SIDS. A post-2015 global development agenda
must continue to build on the gains achieved under the
Millennium Development Goals. It must focus on the
sustainable use of resources to reduce the impact of
climate change, to protect our seas and oceans and to
promote the transition from fossil fuels to renewable
sources in the generation of energy able to power
sustainable industrial development.
The International Conference on Small Island
Developing States, to be held in Samoa in 2014, presents
an ideal opportunity for the international community
to collectively chart a path towards the sustainable
development of SIDS and to set the stage for the post-
2015 development agenda. The Commonwealth of
Dominica remains committed to the progress made
thus far, and it looks forward with eager anticipation
to the forging of durable and sustainable partnerships.