On behalf of the
Government and people of the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas, I convey my sincere congratulations on
Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki’s election to preside over the
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General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. My
delegation wishes to assure him of its full cooperation
and support throughout this session. I would also like
to take this opportunity to congratulate his predecessor,
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, on his
stewardship of the sixty-third session.
The current global financial and economic crisis,
possibly the worst since the Great Depression,
threatens to negate all that we have achieved thus far
on our development agenda, at both the national and
the international levels. This threat was acknowledged
at the High-Level Event on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2008. The
scenario is no better today.
The fallout for the Bahamas has been
considerable. Ours is a very small, open economy that
is closely linked to the performance of most developed
economies. Tourism matters in the Bahamas; it is our
primary industry and it affects all aspects of economic
life in our country. We are in the midst of arguably one
of the most difficult tourism seasons on record. Visitor
arrivals are down, hotel occupancies are down and
revenues earned from tourism are down.
Unemployment has sharply increased. The continued
economic uncertainty means that unemployment will
pose a problem until the global economy is stabilized
and returns to growth. In this regard, we are heartened
by some of the signs of global economic recovery.
The Government of the Bahamas acted quickly to
soften the impact of the international economic
downturn on our population. We took appropriate steps
to ensure the continued integrity of our domestic fiscal
and financial system; we accelerated planned capital
works to generate employment and economic activity;
and we increased targeted social relief for those most
disadvantaged by the crisis. In implementing these
policies and programmes, the Government exercised
appropriate fiscal restraint, so as to ensure
sustainability in the long term as well as the medium
term and to encourage and ensure that the economy
would be well placed to respond swiftly to any upturn
in the global economy. The Bahamas believes that it is
critically important to global financial health that
actions taken at the national level be complemented by
appropriate international responses.
This year the General Assembly will consider the
scale of assessments for the apportionment of the
expenses of the United Nations for the period 2010-
2012, as well as the scale of assessments for the
apportionment of the expenses of United Nations
peacekeeping operations. The Bahamas takes this
opportunity to reiterate its long-standing position that
per capita gross national income (GNI) should not be
given undue weight in determining capacity to pay, as
it often leads to distortions. Nowhere is this distortion
more visible than in the case of the scale of
assessments for peacekeeping operations. The current
scales place the Bahamas, a small developing island
nation, in the same category as the most developed
economies in the world, with the exception of the
permanent members of the Security Council. This
unjust formula creates an onerous burden, and we call
upon this body to address the inequity, which seriously
undermines the development objectives of the
Bahamas, as well as other developing countries.
Clearly the GNI criterion does not properly
reflect either the vulnerability of our economy or the
extraordinary costs associated with the duplication of
infrastructure required by our archipelagic
configuration. Yet, despite our vulnerabilities, we have
never wavered in our responsibilities as a fully fledged
member of the international community and will
continue to meet our obligations to the United Nations
in the manner prescribed and agreed. While my
Government is committed to paying its assessed
contributions in a full and timely manner, we believe
that the proposed scale of assessments is unfair and
unduly burdensome to countries such as the Bahamas,
and should therefore be reconsidered and adjusted,
taking into account those considerations that reflect our
vulnerabilities.
Climate change presents acute challenges for
small island developing States such as the Bahamas,
and we are certainly vulnerable to its impact. One of
the major consequences of climate change for the
Bahamas has been the increase in the number,
frequency and ferocity of the hurricanes affecting our
country and region over the last two decades.
Restoration and recovery efforts required as a result of
these extreme events have taken a toll amounting to
hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade
alone, diverting scarce resources from other critically
important national development programmes and
compromising our efforts at sustainable development.
Hence, we have a special interest not only in
actions taken to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate
change but also in measures designed to slow —
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indeed, to reverse — actions that negatively affect
climate. As a founding member of the Alliance of
Small Island States, the Bahamas has joined with many
like-minded States in our region and around the world
in calling for a global agreement in Copenhagen, with
legally binding targets, that will permit us to achieve
the ultimate objectives of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Bahamas is cognizant that the responsibility
for climate change does not rest with developed
countries alone. Within our limited capabilities, we
have undertaken a number of appropriate actions,
highlighted during the High-Level Event, in order to
increase our resistance to the adverse impacts of
climate change. But it is also important that initiatives
undertaken in the quest for environmental protection
do not cause greater harm than good. For example, the
introduction of an air-passenger levy will damage our
already weakened tourism industry, the industry that is
our economic lifeline. The proposed marine bunkering
levies or taxes are likely to have a similar negative
impact on our maritime registry’s cost competitiveness.
Such supposedly well-intentioned environmental
initiatives come at a time when resources available for
adaptation are not readily available to small island
developing States like the Bahamas.
As an archipelagic nation, the Bahamas faces
particular challenges in the area of maritime safety and
security. My Government has committed tremendous
financial and technical resources to combat illicit
trafficking of drugs and weapons; illegal, unreported
and unregulated fishing and human smuggling, and
underscores the need for effective cooperation and
coordination among States, as well as the development
of innovative approaches to resolve those issues and
complement national efforts. The Bahamas welcomes
the constructive engagement of the United Nations and
the International Maritime Organization in addressing
the issue of piracy. As the country with the world’s
third largest ship registry, the Bahamas will continue to
engage with its partners in the international community
to ensure the safety and security of international
shipping.
Haiti is a near neighbour and a member of our
Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Bahamas and
the Caribbean Community States are committed to
Haiti’s stabilization and to its political and economic
development in the short and long terms. This cannot
be achieved without sustained support from the
international community. The Bahamas is therefore
heartened by the United Nations active and sustained
engagement in Haiti over the past four and a half years,
through the work of the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti. We share the hope of the Secretary-
General that Haiti is moving away from a history of
conflict towards a future of peaceful and sustainable
development.
We call on the Security Council to further extend
the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti beyond 15 October 2009, as
recommended by the Secretary-General. We are also
hopeful that the recent appointment of former United
States President Bill Clinton as the Secretary-General’s
Special Envoy for Haiti will help to keep the issues
affecting Haiti at the forefront of the agenda of the
national and international community. The Security
Council meeting on Haiti earlier this month was
certainly most welcome in this regard.
An increased level of criminal activity is creating
new challenges for the Bahamas — a phenomenon
shared with other countries in our region. We continue
to implement national and regional anti-crime
initiatives to combat this scourge, which undermines
our economies and, indeed, affects our social stability.
Illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and small arms
and light weapons are major contributing factors to this
phenomenon. The Bahamas — as many are aware — is
not a producer of illicit drugs; neither the Bahamas nor
the other States members of CARICOM are
manufacturers or suppliers of small arms and light
weapons. Yet, illicit drugs and light weapons account
overwhelmingly for the amount of crime in our
societies. A disproportionate amount of our scarce
budgetary resources are dedicated to fighting illicit
drug and light arms trafficking through our territory
and in dealing with the terrible fallout in our
communities.
The Bahamas is fully committed to enhancing
regional and international cooperation in the area of
peace and security. We are pleased that the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has agreed to
re-engage with the Caribbean region to support the
fight against the crime and violence that today mar our
societies.
In closing, my delegation wishes to state that the
current economic crisis dramatically demonstrates the
interdependence of the economies of the world. This in
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turn shows the critically important role which
organizations like the United Nations can play in
facilitating dialogue and crafting creative solutions to
global problems. As we continue to face these
unprecedented global challenges, the Bahamas
reaffirms its commitment to engaging fully and
constructively with its partners in the international
community to find collective solutions to the
challenges which confront all of us.