YouSaid · the spoken record

Mallet

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS MALLET

lines on the record: 82
first: 1993-09-24
most recent: 1995-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

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“We will explore with other Member States ideas for fostering a new ethos in the international forum, in which size, wealth and influence will be subordinated to the concourse of ideas. Finally, Saint Lucia will endeavour to join the global search for a more relevant and edifying system of values which will inspire generations of young people to embrace the concerns which five decades ago motivated the founding fathers of this noble Organization.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Its commitment to world peace, human rights, gender equality, racial equality and sustainable development for the peoples of the world is the touchstone of our aspirations. My country stands prepared to assist in the retooling and reshaping of the organs of the United Nations to enable it to face the global challenges which lie ahead of us. These challenges are as demanding of Member States as they are of the organs of the United Nations. Our focus will be to work in concert with our colleagues in the Caribbean Community and our colleagues in the Association of Caribbean States to increase our efficiency and productivity with a view to playing a full role in the international arena.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The interdependence of nations is highlighted against the background of diseases which threaten the world, and the potential for destruction of the very environment which guarantees the survival of mankind. These problems to be resolved must be approached through the collective means available within this body. However, solutions to be effective must take account of differences in size, in resources and in the cultural diversity of those who are to benefit from them. Practicality must take precedence over mere dogma, and idealism must not be allowed to lose ground to a narrowness of realism that pays little heed to circumstances. Saint Lucia sees the United Nations as a solid bulwark for the creation of a new order.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is our hope that, in this fiftieth year, we shall exercise the courage and willingness needed to bring about the overdue changes and reform of the Council. Saint Lucia has taken the opportunity of the fiftieth anniversary to reflect deeply on the role of small marginalized States in the family of nations. We have endured the ravages of a colonial past, been exploited by multinational corporations, divided by the sea and hamstrung by a desperate shortage of resources. Today a new vision unfolds. We cannot hope to conquer worlds as the early Conquistadors did. There are no worlds to conquer, but worlds to recreate. In this recreation of the post-cold-war world, there are disappearing divisions between States once sworn enemies in a drive to adjust to the dictates of the new world economic order.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Repetition is necessary to emphasize the importance of the point that the policy-making arm of the United Nations should reflect the diversity and universality of the membership of this body and uphold the principle of equitable representation that the Charter embodies. Saint Lucia continues to support the recommendation that the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council should be strengthened. We also support the view that the process of briefing and consultation should be institutionalized, that the privilege of veto should be phased out and that the efforts at developing greater transparency and predictability should continue. Saint Lucia will work with and support the efforts of our regional group and of the Non-Aligned Movement to achieve these objectives.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The question of equitable representation and an increase in the membership of the Security Council was included in the agenda of the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly, in 1979, the same year Saint Lucia joined this Organization, and the same year that the membership of the United Nations was tripled, from 51 original members to 152 members. During the 16 years since 1979 we have been calling for an increase in the membership of the Security Council, especially of developing countries, to reflect the increased membership of the United Nations and the reality of its composition.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The forty-second session of the General Assembly designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, and a Plan of Action was adopted in May 1994 by the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction. Our small countries view the transfer of 8 technology in respect of early warning systems, monitoring devices and up-to-date research on safer construction methods as a matter of urgent priority. While we are grateful for the short-term assistance given to such disaster areas, it is vital that we should also focus on the long-term goals of preparedness and prevention.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We have seen floods of refugees escaping civil wars all over the globe, but now we are faced with the prospect of environmental refugees fleeing from disaster areas and natural catastrophes. Without wishing to sound like a prophet of doom, I must say that the possible effect of global warming upon agriculture in the developing world is a further cause of concern. In recent months we have faced the relentless fury of hurricanes, rising sea levels and, in the case of Montserrat, one of our small Caribbean island neighbours, the threat of volcanic eruption. We appreciate that these unfolding problems have not escaped the attention of the United Nations.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Saint Lucia has already ratified the Treaty of Tlatelolco for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean. With regard to the process of decolonization, the target date of the year 2000 set by the United Nations for the total eradication of colonialism is to be borne in mind. In this context, the United Nations should continue to promote the idea that referendums and other forms of popular consultation on the future status of the Non-Self- Governing Territories are appropriate means of ascertaining the wishes of the people in this matter. As the United Nations has grown in scope and complexity over these past 50 years, so too have the problems and complexities assumed new dimensions.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Attention must be focused on those countries which devote large slices of their national budgets to arms purchases and production while numerous areas of the world languish in poverty and disease. Civil and external wars could occur in regions where the possession of advanced weaponry, such as medium-range missiles with chemical, biological or even nuclear warheads, by ambitious and threatened regimes becomes a potentially lethal prospect. The search for peace is the most compelling rationale for the existence of the United Nations, and the indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, together with complete disarmament and the total eradication of chemical weapons, will be the greatest global contribution to a new world order.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Saint Lucia’s support for Taiwan’s bid for a seat in this body is in the knowledge that this does not preclude the eventuality of reunification. As we stand on the threshold of a new century, at the very same time as we are presented with an anniversary opportunity to look back on a half-century of United Nations activity, two vital processes loom large in the perception of small States. These processes are disarmament and decolonization. It is our wish that the process of arms reduction continue to gain momentum and to stabilize at a level that will ensure the easing of tensions and conflicts whenever and wherever they are waged around the globe.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“My country is acutely aware of the need to protect the fundamental principles of our institutions, but it is not beyond the creativity of the Assembly to play a catalyst role in resolving the impasse between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. Recent military manoeuvres in the Taiwan Straits provide an eerie warning of the possibility of deteriorating relations between the two countries. The Assembly should not wash its hands of the issues like Pilate, but should exhaust the possibilities of preventive diplomacy rather than live to bemoan the tragedy of inaction. Saint Lucia continues to be of the view that Taiwan’s presence in the United Nations will help to further the goals and ideals of our Organization.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is our fervent hope that the skirmishes between the Palestinians and the Israelis will not derail the peace process in the Middle East. We further urge the countries of the region to adhere to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for the long-term stability and development of the region. In preceding sessions of the Assembly, my country has drawn attention to the Republic of China on Taiwan’s request to take its rightful place within this family of nations. Our support for this request in no way implies an attack on the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China, nor is it meant to vitiate the intention of resolution 2758 (XXVI).”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“In this anniversary year, Saint Lucia will pursue a conscious policy of establishing 7 diplomatic relations with a number of African countries, with a view not only to stimulating trade and cultural exchanges, but, indeed, to recovering and stimulating that vital interchange of ideas. Saint Lucia is strongly supportive of the peace process in the Middle East, which started with the signing on 4 May 1994 of the first implementation agreement of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The second phase of the agreement was signed on 28 September this year. The agreement between Israel and Jordan has deepened the process considerably.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“This historic link between the Caribbean and Africa must continue, especially at a time when the entire international community is deeply concerned about the critical economic and political conditions in Africa as a whole. Our Secretary-General has openly expressed his deep concern for the problems of Africa and the need for this body to give them its urgent consideration. At its fiftieth session, the General Assembly must act in concert with the Secretary-General in giving high priority to programmes of action for African recovery and development. The United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s must be pursued urgently and vigorously.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“That is why Saint Lucia joins its Caribbean colleagues in calling for an end to the economic blockade of Cuba so as to allow that Caribbean country the flexibility to develop the creativity of its people and pursue its Caribbean destiny. The winds of change which blew across Africa in the fifties were fuelled by a strong pan-Africanism. It is generally known that the ideas which generated the liberation struggles in Africa came out of the cross- fertilization of the ideas of African and Caribbean thinkers. Caribbean thinkers like Saint Lucia’s Nobel laureate, Sir Arthur Lewis, and others, such as C.L.R. James and George Padmore, were strong influences on persons like Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and Sékou Touré.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The United States of America, the CARICOM grouping and the United Nations itself can feel satisfied over and take pride in the fact that their sustained interest and cooperation have led to the promotion of Haiti’s rehabilitation and economic development. Saint Lucia renews its commitment to support the consolidation of the hard-won gains in Haiti in the hope that the country will finally enjoy the fruits of democracy, with full respect accorded the inalienable rights of its people. In the case of Cuba, we are firmly convinced that the cause of democracy can best be served by the diffusion of its values through association and example and not in a process of isolation.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The concept cuts clear across the barriers of race, language and culture to establish a market of 204 million people with an annual trade volume of $180 billion and establishes a regional base from which competitive strength may be developed for dealing in the global arena. In the case of Haiti, we can now look hopefully forward with new confidence to the restoration of democracy in an environment of peace and stability. The new setting should pave the way for the Haitian people’s achievement of economic, social and political well-being. The re-establishment of democratic order leaves Haiti poised to play a greater role, in concert with its CARICOM colleagues, in helping shape the new international order.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The circle of integration expands in a growing relationship with countries in the wider Caribbean basin and the countries of Latin America. This new thrust of integration has found expression in the recently established Association of Caribbean States, which links the countries of Central and South America, as well as other Caribbean countries such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. We will, however, within the Lomé Convention, maintain our long and valuable historical links with Europe even while, by implementing the decisions of the Summit of the Americas, we seek to expand and consolidate our hemispheric ties. This new Caribbean initiative has much to recommend it.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“This experience, however, points to the need for being on constant guard against those who without scruples would seek to compromise the traditions and the integrity of government and of this body. The end of the cold war has left many countries stranded on the beachhead of marginalization. In the context of the Caribbean, we are learning to deal with our isolation by exploring new internal alliances designed to foster pride in our patrimony, reduce our vulnerability, pool our human resources and intensify our self-reliance. The logic of this internationalization is to strengthen the links between us in the Eastern Caribbean, within the context of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), even while we consolidate the process of the closer integration of the Caribbean Community.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“In the course of the year, our country attracted some attention in respect of irregularities surrounding the use of the Pérez-Guerrero Trust Fund. We did not flinch from the costly decision to appoint a full commission of inquiry in our anxiety to ensure the fullest possible accountability. In these trying times, when cynics are ready to decry the achievements of the United Nations and besmirch its idealism, it is the bounden duty of all Member States to wash off the stains of calumny and allow the ideals, principles and performance of this illustrious body to continue to inspire the world. The Phillips Commission cleared both the Saint Lucia Government and the organs of the United Nations of any complicity or blame in the affair.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Admittedly, the 1988 United Nations Vienna Convention has sought to criminalize the laundering of money derived from the illicit drug trade. But it is crucial that our countries in the Caribbean area take a positive stand to enforce the law and protect our communities from these destructive practices. In this context, international financial institutions should use their influence, through moral suasion, to encourage member countries, as a matter of urgency, to adopt the measures necessary to achieve the objectives of the 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. In 6 the Caribbean area our CARICOM colleagues will no doubt embrace the nineteen recommendations of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We are, however, alert to the dangers associated with that sector and, while pursuing the benefits to be derived from such institutions, we must be ever on guard for white-collar criminals who, as part of their everyday activity, launder their ill-gotten gains through the international financial systems, using both public- and private-sector capital projects for this purpose. Quite often the strategies employed by quasi-investors to launder their wealth are both innovative and sophisticated and require equally sophisticated systems to deal with their ingenious malpractices. Our growing States are not yet able to acquire the kind of resources to engage in a full-fledged war against such nefarious institutions.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“With severe limitations of size and resources, we are now called upon to come to terms with changes brought about by the process of liberalization and its requirement to be competitive globally; we are therefore forced to diversify our interests in reaction to the liberalization and deregulation processes which are taking place in the international marketplace. The classical response calls for restructuring aimed at economic diversification, accompanied of course by increasing efficiency and productivity. In terms of diversification the services sector holds attractions. In this context many of our countries are anxious to explore the field of offshore financial services to enhance the Governments’ revenue base.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The Caribbean must call on the good sense and high ideals of this body to use whatever influence it has at its disposal to avert this looming danger. The United Nations may well consider it useful to develop a framework of international review and regulation with respect to the activities and policies of transnational corporations, which are becoming increasingly influential actors on the world scene. There is little need to emphasize the openness and vulnerability of Caribbean economies. We are exposed to the fury of natural disasters, as was evidenced by the havoc wrought by Tropical Storm Debbie, from which Saint Lucia is still recovering; the recent demolition of Antigua and Saint Kitts by Hurricane Luis; and the devastation of St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Dominica by Hurricane Marilyn.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Since the banana industry accounts for about 50 per cent of the domestic exports of the Windward Islands and around 90 per cent of all agricultural earnings in Saint Lucia and Dominica, it is indisputable that the collapse of the industry which would accompany any tampering with the regime would have a disastrous impact on the economies of these very small countries. In addition, the interdependence of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) trading arrangements would, in the circumstances, produce a ripple of economic downturn and accompanying social unrest and political instability throughout the CARICOM region. The resulting prospect of massive unemployment, displaced family wage earnings and an escalation in criminal and drug activity is too horrific to contemplate.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“There is general nervousness and a creeping instability threatening the Caribbean banana-growing States resulting from the decision of the United States Trade Representative to pursue Section 301 action in response to an application by Chiquita Brands International and the Hawaii Banana Industry Association challenging the European banana import regime. We have since been advised that the United States Government is to pursue a complaint against the regime within the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“This facility is not aimed at victimizing United States firms or indeed firms of any particular nationality. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that over 60 per cent of the European Union’s market demand for bananas is satisfied by fruit imported from Central and South America, principally by three United States multinationals. It is important to note that the Caribbean’s share of the world market for bananas is a paltry 3 per cent compared to the more than 70 per cent share of dollar bananas, mostly controlled by these multinationals.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The existing banana regime seeks to ensure that demand for bananas across the European Union is satisfied, while at the same time providing traditional suppliers of bananas to Europe from developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific with continued access to the European market at 5 viable price levels. In doing so the European Union fulfils a legal commitment under the Lomé Convention, that is that the introduction of the single market should place traditional suppliers in no worse a position than in the past. That is achieved by a combination of tariff quotas and licences which ensure that suppliers from the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) maintain — but cannot increase — their market share of approximately 15 per cent of the total European Union demand for bananas.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“But in striving towards the achievement of this end, we find ourselves up against multinational trading interests intent on adding to the maw of their already well-nourished entities the morsels of trade on which the survival of our economy depends. The European Union banana regime came into force in June 1993 as part of the process of creating a single European market, replacing a series of long-standing national arrangements between individual member States and traditional banana suppliers. The United States itself has led the way in instituting various national and international arrangements in the interests of its own farming community.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The pious promises of the developed world to allocate a minuscule percentage of national income to the provision of aid for the developing world have shrunk to non-fulfilment; the thought of the strong economies helping the weak has shrivelled like a raisin in the sun. Saint Lucia has experienced a dramatic decline in grant assistance — by almost 50 per cent between the financial years 1993-1994 and 1994-1995; but we can ill afford to sit around and merely moan. We recognize and accept that we must use the fact of diminished aid to increasingly spur on our own efforts towards greater efficiency and increased productivity.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We have admired how extremely large and very small nations have had the opportunity to contribute equally to the deliberations of the Assembly and to its decision-making process. There are however a number of impediments which still militate against smaller nations such as ours. The confrontational posture of the cold war had given a strategic prominence to small States, then useful as pawns in the global chess game between super-Powers. Now that the small States have outlived their usefulness as honest brokers in the super-Power game, the altered political circumstances have left them stranded and marginalized.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We have been able to deter aggression aimed at fulfilling territorial ambitions, even while we have been able to encourage the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Any inclination that we may have nurtured towards self-congratulation is, however, arrested by events like the slaughter in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda, the “ethnic cleansing” operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the seeming difficulty of ending the conflict. We are reminded by these events of the task that still lies ahead of us in fulfilling the dream of a better world. We take pride in speaking of the equality of Member nations irrespective of size, and indeed have gone a long way towards ensuring such equality.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“During this dramatic and exciting half century the General Assembly has had its task cut out for it as it has been called upon to deal with disruptions arising from human failing, and often from human folly, which have threatened to obstruct the path towards the fulfilment of the ideals of the United Nations. However, some of the Organization’s finest moments have occurred in this half century — none more historic than when we presided over the liquidation of apartheid and saw established the multiracial State of South Africa. We have seen the end of the conflict in Namibia, with the hope that this brings for the economic and social progress of its people. We have monitored the collapse of the Berlin wall. We have seen democracy in Haiti.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The island State of Saint Lucia shares the sense of history and the mantle of responsibility that falls over the General Assembly on this, the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the United Nations. We must exult in the realization that a vague dream of peace in the aftermath of a world war has in five decades firmed into a solid commitment by 185 nations to shoulder the burden of the global community, embracing every aspect of life around the world. The elevation of Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fiftieth session is a distinct honour to his country and a timely recognition of the high esteem in which he is held by his colleagues in the international arena.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is hoped that through the efforts of the United Nations a renewed humanitarianism will be engendered and bound with a strength that guarantees peace and the well-being of the world and its people.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1993, entitled "The Antilles, Fragments of an Epic Memory," Saint Lucia’s Poet Laureate, Derek Walcott, said: "Break a vase and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole." We see in this idea the touchstone for the United Nations and the international community as this Organization approaches its anniversary year. We can extend this perception to embrace the cracked vases of our globe, in which the horrors of Somalia, the demoralization and brutality of Haiti, the carnage of the Anglo-Irish conflict and the racial bigotry in other parts of the world are all seen as products of the accident of history and the poverty of the human spirit.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“It is also necessary that this Assembly be made more effective and efficient in the execution of its functions, so that it can become more responsive to the needs particularly of developing countries, and can assist those countries in their development processes. Saint Lucia joins scores of other delegates in calling for an increase in the membership of the Security Council to reflect the increase in membership of this Organization 10 and the concept of universality that the Charter advocates. It is also necessary that the Security Council allow for more consultation with the General Assembly in its deliberations so that its perspectives may become even more reflective of the world community.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The United Nations has over the years been party to the achievement of many political strides towards democratization and unprecedented levels of cooperation between nation States. The global situation that necessitated the creation of the United Nations has undergone tremendous changes over the last 50 years. Our membership has more than doubled, and, as we continue to witness the emergence of new States, social and economic demands increase, coupled with new, pressing concerns, such as the environment, women’s rights, children’s rights and good governance, to name a few. My delegation supports the demand for enhancing the resources of the United Nations to enable it to cope with its expanded responsibilities.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“This again underscores the vulnerability of small States like ours, and the need for the international community to recognize their special peculiarities and needs and to make appropriate provisions to facilitate their survival. Permit me, on behalf of my Prime Minister, and the Government and people of Saint Lucia, to express profound thanks and appreciation to the several members and agencies of our Organization for their expressions of sympathy, concern and support, and, in several cases, offers or tangible manifestations of assistance in our time of need. As we focus on the milestone of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and its Charter, we should perceive the ideas that subtend this body as a cementing balm that would bring the disparate pieces of our shattered globe together in peace, harmony, creativity and beauty.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Over an 11-hour period, this small 660-square- kilometre territory, historically dependent on agriculture, mainly bananas, tourism and small-scale manufacturing, was battered by nearly 15 inches of rain, resulting in four deaths by drowning, numerous landslides, and massive flooding that destroyed bridges, roads, houses, and 60 per cent of the banana crop. Even our international airport lay buried temporarily beneath two feet of water and mud. With over 50 per cent of the working population of Saint Lucia engaged in banana-associated enterprises, and with more than 50 per cent of export earnings derived from banana exports, destruction of 60 per cent of the banana crop cannot but create serious economic and social consequences for us.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“My delegation calls upon the international community to provide active support to the United Nations Development Programme, which has been charged with the responsibility for the coordination and implementation of the programme of action. Our small island State, Saint Lucia, seems to oscillate between triumph and disaster. Last year we highlighted our triumphs in the recognition of our two Nobel laureates. This year the disastrous hand of nature in the form of tropical storm "Debbie" struck Saint Lucia, dramatically emphasizing the vulnerability of small island developing States.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Arising out of the universal blueprint emerging from that Conference is the recognition, at last, of the peculiar circumstances of small island developing States in their pursuit of sustainable development. Designing development policies and implementing programmes for small island States such as Saint Lucia require considerable imagination and ingenuity, as was shown by the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados earlier this year. A successful follow-up to that Conference would rely heavily on financial resources for the implementation of its findings.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The countries of the Caribbean Community, cognizant of the rapidly changing economic environment, and the urgent need for cooperative effort to adjust, and in some cases, survive the challenges ensuing from this change, have undertaken measures to deepen their relations with their Caribbean neighbours by formally creating the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), membership of which encompasses all countries washed by the Caribbean Sea. We hope the international community will be helpful in encouraging this self-help initiative to achieve its full potential. Last year, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the issue of sustainable development was accepted as a major component to be included in the development agendas of countries the world over.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The Government of Saint Lucia has been observing with some concern the development of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), given the serious adverse consequences it will have in the medium term and long term for relatively nascent industries and the micro-economies of our small States. My Government regrets that United States legislation on NAFTA contains no expressed arrangement which takes into account the limits of our industrial base. Consequently, the fragility of our economies will only worsen, resulting in economic and social discontent. In this regard we appeal to the international community for special trade considerations while 9 adjustments are made to meet the international challenges that the world economic environment engenders.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“It is to be regretted that even the limited concessions provided by Europe in discharge of its treaty obligations, have been subjected to a withering attack by forces which seem fully prepared to see the economies of small island States, already possessing so little room for flexibility, placed in total jeopardy. That is the experience that urges this delegation again to call the attention of the international community to the special circumstances of small island developing States and the need for particular measures to deal with their peculiar circumstances.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Saint Lucia’s economy is highly dependent on its export of bananas to the European Union and despite new arrangements put in place to provide limited access guarantees for fruit from African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) - and Saint Lucia expresses its appreciation to those European States that have been instrumental in securing these arrangements - the industry in Saint Lucia has experienced a devastating downturn in prices, which in turn has been directly responsible for the economic disruption, and its allied social instability, that occurred during the latter part of 1993 and this year, 1994.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Of particular concern must be the consequences of these new developments for small island States such as ours, whose exposed economies make them vulnerable and sensitive to changes that take place elsewhere. Saint Lucia’s economy, for instance, has already experienced the shock resulting from changes brought about by the advent of the European Union.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“While the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor organization the World Trade Organization, seem to offer medium- and long-term benefits at least to some developed countries, there remains a nagging concern among developing countries that certain barriers may still remain, or be created, that would effectively militate against the products of developing countries entering the markets of developed countries. My delegation joins with the rest of the developing world in calling upon the developed world, and the major international institutions, to re-examine their policies and emphases, with a view to adopting measures that can realistically assist small developing economies in their attempts to keep pace with the dictates of contemporary economic trends.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“To sustain such democratic beginnings, appropriate structures must be put in place, adequately resourced in both human and material terms, and suitable support mechanisms must be designed and firmly rooted. Above all, there must be the international will to encourage, facilitate and enrich this democratic process, as would be exemplified through massive development assistance over a sustained period. The global economic situation is at present at a critical crossroads, reflecting a speedily moving trend towards trade liberalization and the need for national economies to improve their own efficiency and competitiveness. The constraints of smallness have continually conspired against States like Saint Lucia in terms of its ability meaningfully to raise its gross domestic product.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)