It is my distinct honour
and pleasure to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your
assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-eighth session. The Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Heads of Government, at their thirty-
fourth meeting in July, pledged their support for your
presidency. Allow me therefore to assure you of my
delegation’s support throughout the current session
of the General Assembly. Let me also commend your
predecessor, Mr. Vuk Jeremi., for ably guiding the
work of the General Assembly during its sixty-seventh
session.
You have assumed leadership of the General
Assembly at a very pivotal moment in the United Nations
timetable. The expiration deadline for the Millennium
Development Goals is near, and our efforts to elaborate
an agenda for the post-2015 period are intensifying.
Following the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development, modifications have been made to the
institutional framework for sustainable development.
An agreement has been reached on the establishment
of the High-level Political Forum and the United
Nations Environment Assembly. The deliberations on
the reform of the Economic and Social Council have
been completed. It is envisaged that the deliberations of
the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development
Goals and the intergovernmental committee of experts
on sustainable development financing will accelerate
in the next few months. The international community
continues to chart a course in the pursuit of global
sustainable development.
The theme of the sixty-eighth session of the General
Assembly, “The post-2015 development agenda: setting
the stage”, will require us to engage in what might best
be described as a retrospective and prospective dialogue.
Much has been said about the current global financial
and economic crisis, which has been made worse by
the many manifestations of the impact of climate
change — extreme weather events, food crises and
volatile food crises — compounded by unprecedented
levels of terror and violence. At the same time, we have
seen a global determination to tackle these issues.
Barbados recognizes that the stability, health and
productivity of the global environment, particularly
coastal and marine resources, are fundamental to the
survival of Barbados, CARICOM and other small
island developing States (SIDS). We therefore deem
it imperative that countries like ours maintain active
involvement in shaping the global development
policy agenda. It is recognized, however, that SIDS
are constrained in their ability and capacity to craft
independent solutions. One major barrier is our debt
situation.
The issue of debt sustainability is of particular
relevance to SIDS. In highlighting its importance, the
Prime Minister of Barbados, in his feature address
to the recently concluded interregional preparatory
meeting for the Third International Conference on the
Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States, noted:
“Debt sustainability is a critical issue not only
for Barbados, but for many of the SIDS... We must
therefore use the opportunity provided by the
Third International Conference on SIDS to both
find and share solutions to this challenge, as it is
a major constraint to SIDS achieving sustainable
development.
“In this context, it is imperative that, before
we meet in Samoa, an opportunity be provided
to fully ventilate this matter. In this regard, the
relevant entity of the United Nations responsible
for coordinating SIDS issues may want to consider
convening a meeting of the Finance and Economic
Ministers of SIDS to discuss this issue and to put
forward specific recommendations to be considered
as part of the outcome of the Third International
meeting on SIDS.”
I repeat that call on this body and commend it to the
relevant entity of the United Nations system to act
expeditiously on this proposal.
Another issue of concern to Barbados relates to the
international financial-services sector. We believe that
the sustainability of our development is being stymied
by efforts to undermine this very important sector,
which continues to provide a stable and substantial
contribution to our gross domestic product. Barbados
therefore associates itself with the comments of the
Right Honourable Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the
Bahamas, in his address to the General Assembly (see
A/68/PV.19). We are a well-regulated jurisdiction which
has sought at all times to comply with international
rules and best practice, and it is our intention to operate
within the established international norms that have
guided this sector to date.
In 1994, Barbados was honoured to host the first
United Nations Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States. At
that time, we were optimistic that the international
community’s recognition of the inherent vulnerabilities
of small States would lead to real progress in the
development of SIDS. However, the five-year review of
the Mauritius Strategy in 2010 revealed that
“[s]mall island developing States have made
less progress than most other groupings, or even
regressed, in economic terms, especially in terms
of poverty reduction and debt sustainability”
(resolution 65/2, para. 5).
Despite this, Barbados remains committed to the
process to advance the sustainable development of
SIDS.
As you are aware, Mr. President, Barbados attaches
great importance to sustainable development in all its
dimensions. We believe that the theme for this year’s
session — “The post-2015 development agenda: setting
the stage” — is thus both timely and important. Such
an agenda must recognize the importance of addressing
the very specific needs of the Members of the United
Nations. I speak therefore from the perspective of SIDS.
Barbados believes that the post-2015 development
agenda should involve commitments to the eradication
of poverty and hunger; environmental sustainability,
with a strong emphasis on coastal and marine resources;
the development of sustainable and accessible renewable
energy technologies; the pursuit of a sustainable
agriculture agenda, in tandem with food and nutrition
security; gender equality and women’s empowerment;
and youth development, education and employment.
We also call for emphasis on the inclusion of
vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities;
the requisite means of implementation, including
capacity-building, technology transfer, trade and
technical cooperation; the integration of appropriate
systems for accountability, monitoring, evaluation and
reporting; and good governance, respect for human
rights, and the rule of law.
This is not a mere shopping list. It reflects the
understanding that all these issues are inextricably
linked. They represent challenges or problems that
must be tackled simultaneously, if we are to achieve
sustainable development. These cannot be addressed in
a silo-like manner.
The importance of a policy of sustainable
development can therefore not be understated. It
is a matter of survival. It is for this reason that the
Government of Barbados has envisioned the building
of a green economy as its strategy for advancing its
sustainable development. As Prime Minister Freundel
Stuart indicated in the foreword to the Green Economy:
Scoping Study Synthesis Report on Barbados,
“the Green Economy debate recognizes our
structural vulnerabilities, offers a model to assist
us in further realizing our sustainable development
aspirations, and creates the institutional platform
that would enable us to participate in innovative
partnerships in the fight to save our planet,
against mounting unsustainable consumption and
production patterns”.
Our situation as a special case for development
holds as true today as it did more than 20 years ago,
when the United Nations system first acknowledged
our vulnerabilities and our special link to ocean
resources. In the case of Barbados, we are of the
opinion that a green economy is inextricably linked to
our development and as such should not be lost in this
very important discussion.
Over the past several months, increasing attention
has been focused on the preparatory process for the
Third International Conference on the Sustainable
Development of SIDS, to be held in Samoa in 2014.
Three regional preparatory meetings in the various
SIDS regions were convened in July. Members may
recall that the interregional meeting was held in my
country, Barbados, the birthplace of the Programme
of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small
Island Developing States — the Barbados Programme
of Action.
Barbados attaches great importance to the
preparatory process for the Samoa Conference. As we
take stock after almost 20 years of the implementation
of the Programme of Action and 10 years of the
Mauritius Strategy for its further implementation,
we wish to emphasize that this process is an integral
part of the overall post-2015 development agenda.
This preparatory process can strengthen the collective
action of SIDS in addressing their vulnerabilities and
special development challenges. Prime Minister Stuart
of Barbados referred to this recently as building SIDS
collectivity.
The support of the international community
must underpin this concept of SIDS collectivity
by strengthening interregional and intraregional
collaboration between SIDS and the various
SIDS regions, and increasing emphasis on
institution-building, including the establishment of an
appropriate institutional mechanism to facilitate, in
particular, intraregional collaboration among SIDS.
Credence is given to this approach by the Secretary-
General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability,
whose report (see A/66/700) stressed that the building
of effective institutional governance at the local,
national, regional and global levels is essential for
achieving sustainable development, facilitating greater
utilization of science and technology to help address
many of the issues being faced by our young people
in strengthening the interface between youth talent,
innovation and entrepreneurship, and speaking with
one voice at the international level on issues impacting
SIDS sustainable development.
Barbados believes firmly that South-South and
triangular cooperation must be part of any effort
to reform the existing international development
cooperation architecture and to build more inclusive
global partnerships for effective development
cooperation. We possess a wealth of experience in areas
that we can share with developing and middle-income
countries, including education and training, health
care, social partnering, clean -nergy policies and
technologies, environmental protection, including
coastal conservation, and the provision of social safety
nets.
Like other SIDS, however, we are constrained
by limited financial resources and the persistent and
prolonged global financial crisis, which continue to
have a negative impact on resource mobilization and
financial flows to developing countries. Barbados
supports the observation made by the United Nations
Office for South-South Cooperation, that there is a need
to give the global South the incentive to invest more
in multilateral forms of South-South cooperation. We
therefore welcome the formation of partnerships with
the private sector, international organizations, donors
and civil society organizations specifically designed to
better facilitate such South-South cooperation.
There is a clear need for greater equity, fairness
and transparency in the method employed to
determine socioeconomic classifications and resource
allocation. The persistent use of arbitrarily determined
international classification and ratings systems that are
based on gross domestic product per capita and other
narrow criteria must be expanded in scope to take into
account meaningful variables such as vulnerability.
In this context, we refer again to the observation
by the Secretary-General that gross domestic product
per capita on its own is an inadequate indicator. We
also applaud the useful research being conducted on
vulnerability indices and other measures beyond gross
domestic product by bodies such as the Commonwealth,
the Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean, and the United Nations Statistical
Commission. Barbados will continue its advocacy on
this issue.
Barbados is not unique. Like other SIDS, we
recognize that our efforts to achieve sustainable
development must of necessity incorporate delivery
modalities encompassing finance, good governance,
development cooperation, trade capacity-building and
institutional strengthening. Barbados therefore reminds
this body that we must foster strong partnerships if we
are to craft effective and truly lasting global solutions.
We call on Member States to revisit the Small Island
Developing States Technical Assistance Programme as
a means of enabling the transfer of skills, knowledge
and experience across SIDS and the three SIDS
regions. We hold the view that the Programme offers
much potential for enhancing capacity and access to
SIDS-grown technologies and skill sets. The Technical
Assistance Programme must be seen as an important
mechanism for advancing the post-2015 development
agenda.
The provision of free health care for Barbadian
citizens has been a critical contributor to the high level
of human development in Barbados. The treatment and
prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases,
however, account for a disproportionately large
percentage of our national budget. That has entailed
the diversion of scarce resources that should have been
devoted to achieving other development goals. Chronic
non-communicable diseases constitute one of the major
challenges to the sustainable development of Barbados,
effectively threatening the development gains that
Barbados has made.
Our strong commitment to preventing and combating
chronic non-communicable diseases is reflected in
strong multi-stakeholder partnerships, including the
dedicated engagement of civil society. Despite the
national prioritization of non-communicable diseases,
the focus on prevention, and the implementation of
evidence-based programmes, a developing country
like Barbados cannot, on its own, achieve its national
objectives. International cooperation and assistance in
this area are critical.
My country does not draw a dividing line between
its domestic and foreign policies. We have been blessed
with stable Governments. We have enjoyed a tradition
of constitutional change in our Governments since
independence. As a nation, we have striven to create
a just society. We see an inextricable link between
development and international peace and security.
Without development, there can be no international
peace and security, and without international peace and
security the development agenda will not succeed.
For Barbados, therefore, the rule of law at the
national and international levels is an indispensable
condition for sustainable development. Barbados is
deeply concerned by the number of national regional
and international conflicts raging throughout the
world. We are yet more concerned that the threshold
of what constitutes an acceptable level of violence and
acceptable levels of atrocity grows higher and higher.
The findings of the United Nations inspection team that
chemical weapons were used in Syria are alarming. My
country believes that the perpetrators of these acts must
be brought to account. Moreover, we believe that the
international community must work in good faith to
find a political solution to the escalating and ongoing
humanitarian crisis in Syria.
At the same time, the international community
must not lose sight of the many conflicts and acts of
terror that continue throughout the world. Against this
background my delegation wishes to extend profound
condolences to the Government and the people of Kenya
on the recent terrorist attacks that were perpetrated
against the people of that country. As we have stated,
there can be no justification for acts of terror.
In Barbados and the Caribbean, illicit small arms
and light weapons are the weapons of mass destruction.
Primarily linked to international drug trafficking and
other transnational organized crime, the proliferation
of illicit small arms and light weapons in the Caribbean
exacts a heavy toll on State and citizen security and
impairs national development. For that reason, Barbados
and CARICOM consistently argued for the elaboration
of a robust, legally binding Arms Trade Treaty, which
would set the highest common international standards
for regulating the transfer of conventional arms.
Barbados is pleased, therefore, to be among those
Member States that have signed the Arms Trade Treaty.
It is our hope that the implementation of the Treaty will
lead to a reduction in the flow of illicit small arms, light
weapons and their ammunition, parts and components,
thus contributing to a reduction in armed conflict and
violence.
Our first Prime Minister, now a national hero, the
Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, in his maiden
speech to this body on 9 December 1966, stated:
“We have no quarrels to pursue and we
particularly insist that we do not regard any
Member State as our natural opponent... We will
not regard any great Power as necessarily right in a
given dispute unless we are convinced of this, yet
at the same time, we will not view the great Powers
with perennial suspicion.” (A/PV.1487, para. 78)
The United Nations was established in the aftermath
of the Second World War to promote international
peace and security. We call on the Security Council
to meet its obligations to the international community.
It is clear that there cannot be business as usual while
humanitarian crises continue to emerge and countless
lives continue to be lost. My delegation therefore
remains concerned about the economic embargo
that continues to be imposed on Cuba, as well as the
extraterritorial impact that it continues to have on
countries inside and outside our region. We call for the
ending of the embargo and trust that it will soon be
ushered into the pages of history.
My delegation looks forward to the further
unfolding of the post-2015 development agenda during
this sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly, and
I wish you, Sir, every success as you guide the General
Assembly in realizing an agenda that is inclusive and
one that will redound to the benefit of all.