NiUNITED NATIONS, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have taken to one of the world’s biggest stages Saturday, expressing their various concerns about a changing global environment that has left many of them deeper in debt, facing unprecedented climatic events and calling for reforms of the United Nations Security Council.
CARICOM prime ministers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts-Nevis warned member countries of the United Nations to re-think their strategies that, in times of overwhelming conflict, civilizations either descend into barbarism or into “repair.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves told the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday that the overwhelming majority of the world suffers as one State acts with exceptionalism, “grounded in manifest destiny.” At the same time, another, with military prowess, seeks global hegemony.
He said that instead of giving up, the world needs to remember that the multilateral system can also offer pathways to peace, prosperity, sustainable development, and security, calling for global leadership to redouble its response to these challenges.
“It is an indictment on our civilized Assembly that horrific wars rumble on, unabated, in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, and parts of Africa,” he said, also condemning the oppression of the Palestinian people, the unjust embargo on Cuba and the imperialist attempts to subvert the elected Governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
“We urge the United States of America, our friend, the most powerful and economically dominant country since the dawn of civilization, a nation which espouses humane value to end its unilateral and oppressive sanctions and impositions that are contrary to international law, which has been rolled out against Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
“It is also plain silly and factually incorrect to label Cuba a sponsor of state terrorism, a label prompted by partisan domestic politics in south Florida, but it hurt the Cuiban people massively and unnecessarily.”
Gonsalves, who is also the pro tempore president of the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (CELAC), said that the sanctions against Venezuela, including the weaponizing of the US dollar, have caused the collapse of the PetroCaribe agreement, through which Caracas sold oil to Caribbean countries under concessionary terms.
Gonsalves said the agreement “delivered substantial benefits to over a dozen Caribbean countries, including St.Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We in the Caribbean have thus become collateral damage,” he added.
Gonsalves said that the situation regarding Taiwan is being ignored and that it is long overdue for the country “to be brought in from the diplomatic cold.
“The magnificent Chinese civilization, through the fever of its history, has delivered to the contemporary world, in practical terms, more than one recognizable national political expression, institutionally.
“Surely, Taiwan’s quest for participation in relevant specialized agencies of the United Nations is reasonable and should be accommodated. Repeatedly, Taiwan has shown itself to be a responsible member of the international community. Peace across the Taiwan Straits is an imperative for the prosperity and security of the world,” Gonsalves said.
Support for Taiwan also came from Dr. Trerance Drew, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts-Nevis, who told the August body that Taiwan has proven itself to be a reliable development partner, “which significantly contributes to the collective efforts to address today’s global issues.
“It is our firm belief that Taiwan should be able to make its contribution to the work and budget of multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the World Health Assembly in furtherance of the shared global goal, and we hope that the right of its 23 million people to adequate representation can be realized.
“Moreover, we urge for peace in that region of the world as war would result in severe consequences for all of us,” he said. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, urging countries worldwide to recognize its “One China Policy.”
Both Gonsalves and Drew acknowledged that the agenda for small island developing states (SIDS) includes global action combatting and adaptation to climate change, financing for development, and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Prime Minister Gonsalves said crisscrossing the issue of financing for development in the era of climate change. The down-side ramifications of the structural distortions in the global economy for poor and vulnerable middle-income countries is the Bridgetown Initiative proposed by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and endorsed already by the CARICOM, CELAC as well as the Association of Small States (AOSIS) and dozens of countries in the African Union, and elsewhere.
“This progressive initiative contains creative financing proposals that would result in much more resources on highly concessionary terms for poor and vulnerable regions [from developed countries, the international financial institutions (IFIs) and the private sector globally; the setting-up of a well-resourced Green Bank; the reform of the IFIs including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” Gonsalves said.
He also said the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) championed by vulnerable middle-income countries, including those in the Caribbean, finds a place in this reform mix of financing for development. St. Vincent and the Grenadines urges strong support of the Bridgetown Initiative and the MVI by the United Nations General Assembly.
Prime Minister Drew said that there is an urgent need for the international community to address the gaps and shortfalls of the current global financial architecture, to strengthen support for SIDS, in particular, through a multilateral sovereign debt mechanism, meaningful reform of the governance of the international financial institutions and enhanced access to financial resources.
He congratulated the World Bank on recent steps “in the right direction,” noting, “However, there is still much ground to cover if states like mine are not to fail and our economies and societies remain viable.
“I commend the Bridgetown Initiative… as having the potential to effect the changes essential to ensure equitable growth and sustainable development.
“I see as an outcome to addressing the issue of access to capital, the development of a relevant and effective Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. I want to caution, however, that to be effective, debt must be part of the metrics used for the assessment and ranking of countries.
“Further, the risk and cost of wipe-out environmental events, those which in a single event or series of events literally “wipe out” five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or more, as well as the capacity to recover from such events, are all important metrics if the MVI is to work.” Prime Minister Drew noted, “We live in a world in flux where emerging spheres of influence challenging the existing so-called rules-based order” emerge.
He said new currencies are being internationalized, new trade rules are taking shape, and new security, economic, and political blocs are emerging to drive geopolitical advantage.
“The voice of the Global South is growing bolder with increasingly louder rumblings among powerful blocs calling for change. The need for an enhanced role and presence of developing countries …within the UN Security Council could not be more compelling.
“We are convinced that in the face of these complex changes, the reform of the Security Council is necessary to reflect contemporary geopolitical realities better and enhance its effectiveness.
“This reform is critical as we assemble today at a time that is as challenging as it is exciting. We stand at the juncture of “what is” and “what could be.” We know what it is. We understand what could be.
Ours is the challenge to ensure peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all. St. Kitts and Nevis accepts the challenge and remains a ready and willing partner in our collective quest for a better world that we all deserve.” Prime Minister Drew said.
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