On behalf of my
delegation and the Government and the people of the
Commonwealth of Dominica, I would like to
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congratulate the President on his election to preside
over the sixty-third session of the General Assembly.
We are especially pleased that, for the first time, a
national of Nicaragua is presiding over this body. Let
me assure him of my delegation’s fullest cooperation.
We are meeting at a time of great international
uncertainty. It stems from various global crises related
to the availability and affordability of food, an
increasingly unstable international financial system and
volatility in the supply and cost of energy. In a
statement to the High-level Segment of the Economic
and Social Council last July, China and the Group of
77 commented on the predicament currently facing the
world. They observed, quite rightly, that it was
“driven significantly by a severely unbalanced…
economic system, made even more unbalanced by
speculation; a climate … and environmental
crisis; as well as a crisis of confidence in
international institutions that were created to
provide policy advice and coordination on global
issues.”
Mr. Siles Alvarado (Bolivia), Vice-President, took
the Chair.
Today we endure the consequences. For small and
vulnerable States in the Caribbean, such as ours,
globalization continues to significantly change the
dynamics of economic survival and sustainability. Our
efforts to diversify our economies, adjust to global
developments and stay competitive represent a
formidable undertaking. As small States, we
increasingly feel we have fallen off the radar screen of
developed countries, which seem inconsiderate of our
plight, especially in the key areas of trade and
financing for development.
We keep hearing about a need for change. Indeed,
around the world, change is being proffered as the
panacea to all challenges and problems facing
humankind. When everything else has failed, change, it
would appear, becomes the only answer. As one of the
youngest heads of Government who will address the
General Assembly, I believe I have a duty to
communicate to the world body that the word “change”
is beginning to ring hollow with young people around
the world.
Over the past decade, many countries have taken
steps to effect change, as recommended. Sadly, in far
too many instances, things have remained pretty much
the same. What is really needed is meaningful change
and a greater global commitment to making that
change happen. When I speak of meaningful change, I
mean change that goes beyond lip service and makes a
noticeable difference in the lives of entire populations.
Many countries cannot achieve such change alone.
They need vital support from countries with advanced
economies.
Four years ago, when I addressed this body, I
appealed for meaningful structures to be instituted to
minimize the suffering and harmful effects of natural
disasters on small developing nations in particular. I
am disappointed that no real progress has been made.
Today, I address the Assembly against the backdrop of
hundreds of fatalities and thousands of casualties from
what so far has been a very active 2008 Atlantic
hurricane season. Besides the loss of lives and personal
injuries, natural disasters have inflicted billions of
dollars worth of damage on small developing States.
Most of those States are incapable of starting any
short- or medium-term recovery programme on their
own because of their limited resources.
Compare their plight with that of some developed
countries where regions have been similarly devastated
by hurricanes, earthquakes and mudslides. Those
regions have been declared disaster areas and national
resources have been mobilized to build and rebuild in
record time, in some instances better than before. Let
us compare the cases of two small countries: Haiti, in
the Caribbean, less than four hours away from where
we are meeting in the commercial capital of the world,
and Georgia, on the Black Sea coast. Soon after the
Georgia crisis, the United States Administration
announced a $1 billion reconstruction package for
Georgia, pledging that $500 million of that package
was to be delivered by December of this year. That is
commendable indeed; but what of Haiti?
That Caribbean country just south of the Florida
keys is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
It is virtually a ward of the United Nations and the
Organization of American States. It was devastated by
the two worst hurricanes of this season — Gustav and
Ike. We saw heart-wrenching images of women and
children who had lost everything, caught in razor wire
as they fought each other for inadequate relief supplies.
What is the response of the United States
Administration, the United States Congress and the
United States presidential campaigns to the devastation
in Haiti? What is the response of Canada and the
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European Union? Where is the billion-dollar
reconstruction package for the people and Government
of Haiti?
We, the international community, are in Haiti.
The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has
been in the country for over three years now, and has
done a commendable job to help to restore the
democratic, social and economic institutions of Haiti.
But we know what is needed to bring about real and
meaningful change, in the quality of life of the more
than 8 million people of that great country of Haiti.
Yet, we shrink from committing the resources and
programmes needed to achieve those results. We are
providing life support to Haiti, not support for recovery
and reconstruction. My question is: Why is the
response to devastation in Georgia so different to our
response to devastation in Haiti?
In the international financial markets, turbulence
of unprecedented and horrific proportions has taken
place. The last fortnight alone has broken decades-old
records for corporate closures, collapses and job losses.
The effects of those events will be felt equally, and
perhaps even more severely, in small developing
countries such as those in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
I speak today as the leader of a small developing
island State whose economy was effectively paralyzed
due to a series of decisions taken by representatives of
developed nations and multilateral agencies who
seemed totally unmindful of or indifferent to the
impact of such actions on small and vulnerable
economies. In 2002 and 2003, the Commonwealth of
Dominica suffered one of the worst economic crises in
its history. That was due in part to the deteriorating
fortunes of the banana industry, precipitated by a
United States of America-supported challenge to the
European Union banana import regime before the
World Trade Organization. What might have been an
academic argument for some became an issue of
survival for us.
There is no country in the world that has been
more dependent on banana exports than Dominica.
That fact meant nothing to those who engineered the
near-demise of the industry in the Caribbean members
of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
as they put the WTO mechanisms to work to their
benefit. The result was severe economic crisis and
hardship, from which our farmers are yet to recover. I
briefly recall those dire circumstances to emphasize the
resolve, resilience and determination of our people, as
well as what may be described as the insensitivity or
indifference of others to the plight of small developing
Member nations.
The meaningful change of which I speak and for
which our populations yearn must be reflected in our
attitudes and approaches to each other. Why speak of
and proffer change if our attitude to the issue of the
fundamental differences between nations — small and
large, rich and poor — remains the same?
I think here of the issue of climate change. The
fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change found that sea-level rise
caused by global warming is likely to exacerbate storm
surges and coastal erosion on small islands. What that
means for us is severe damage to the infrastructure of
human settlements, including contamination of fresh-
water supplies and agricultural lands and the pollution
of marine eco-systems caused by the indiscreet and
unsustainable practices of others.
Why speak of change if industrialized nations, in
particular, refuse to heed the warnings and show
greater commitment to saving the planet and reversing
climate change? Meaningful change should quicken the
pace of the climate change negotiations at Poznan,
Poland later this year, with the objective of providing a
realistic and attainable framework for the 2009
agreement in Copenhagen.
Change ought not merely to be a slogan or an
excuse for inaction. Let me reaffirm that change can be
real and meaningful.
Take, for example, the response of the nations in
the Caribbean and Central America to the global
energy crisis. As expected, the surging price of oil has
adversely impacted the economies of the small island
States of the Caribbean. To address the energy crisis in
the region, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela came
up with an innovative initiative known as Petrocaribe
in 2005. That initiative supplies fuel through a flexible
payment facility to some 18 net oil-importing countries
in the Caribbean and Central America. Petrocaribe also
makes provisions to guarantee regional energy
sovereignty by establishing an energy security
arrangement through providing a reliable and timely
supply of oil from Venezuela and increasing fuel
storage capacity in the Caribbean.
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Since the volatility in oil prices has placed
national balance of payments and foreign exchange
reserves at risk, the Petrocaribe pact has taken on
increased economic importance as a critical lifeline for
many developing economies of the Caribbean and
Central America. The initiative has become the single
largest source of concessionary finance to the
Caribbean region, with credits to importing countries
from June 2005 to December 2007 amounting to some
$1.17 billion. In contrast, traditional donors and
multilateral assistance during the period in question
amounted to approximately one quarter of the
Petrocaribe figure.
The Commonwealth of Dominica joins with other
countries of our hemisphere in expressing our
appreciation to Government of Venezuela for the
Petrocaribe initiative. We also applaud the Government
of Trinidad and Tobago for establishing in 2004 a
Special Petroleum Fund for member States of the
Caribbean Community, which has provided timely
grant funding to meet general development objectives.
Those two initiatives by the petroleum-exporting
States of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago are
shining examples of South-South cooperation and are
deserving of emulation by other oil-producing States.
They demonstrate that meaningful change, if earnestly
pursued, can make a difference in the lives of the small
and most vulnerable.
The global crisis in the availability and price of
food presents yet another unprecedented challenge to
developing countries. It is another area where
meaningful change can make a difference.
Reports by the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development, which have helped to
underscore the gravity of the problem. One states that
“World food prices have roughly doubled over the past
three years, but between April 2007 and April 2008
alone they increased by 85 per cent.”
Of particular concern is the price of rice, a staple
for many people in the developing world. The price of
rice has trebled since September 2007, rising by some
160 per cent just within the first quarter of this year.
We concur with the views of the Secretary-General
about the worsening food crisis, which could push an
additional 10 million people into hunger and poverty,
over and above the existing 800 million.
We endorse the Secretary-General’s conclusion
that the crisis is a moral outrage, as well as his concern
that the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) is threatened by the double jeopardy of
high food and fuel prices.
All of that calls for meaningful change — change
in attitude and change in practice. The people we are
elected to serve are committed to and long for that
change. They have mandated us to make the necessary
change. The question is, are we so committed? Are we
ready? Are we going to agree to and effect meaningful
change?
That, for many, is what the sixty-third session of
the General Assembly is all about: meaningful change
for the good of all, meaningful change that will make a
difference, meaningful change that will transform
lives, meaningful change that will replace talk with
action. For many small island States, securing a new
global commitment to meaningful change will be the
benchmark for judging the success of the session.
Let us therefore resolve at the sixty-third session
of the General Assembly to effect the meaningful
change that can make a difference in the lives of our
peoples. Dominica stands ready to play its part.