Co-Presidents of the Millennium Summit
Mr. Secretary General
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen
Mr. President
It is with an indescribable sense of honour that I stand before the United Nations family today, to offer my congratulations and those of the government and people of the Commonwealth of Dominica to your Excellencies Mr. Theo-Ben Girirab of Namibia and Mr. Hard Holkeri of Finland on the excellent job that you have done of chairing this historic and momentous Millennium Summit.
Mr. President
What makes the start of this new century both fascinating and frightening is the fact that we can only enjoy the beginning of it cognizant of the fact that none of us here will see the end of it. In short, we will not be present to take credit for the achievements, nor to shoulder the blame for the failures of our policies.
It has been said,
"The century on which we are entering can and must be the century of the common man and common woman".This is very true, as it is the common man who will judge the efficacy of this institution and will pronounce whether or not we were truly successful in fulfilling the promises of the United Nations Charter.
But the bigger question is, should we succeed in leaving the common man a higher standard of living, access to affordable health care, peace and security and good economic prospects, will he be able to enjoy them in the planet that we will leave to him?
I ask this question because the truth is, the common man will judge us most of all on the state of the planet that we will bequeath to him and the generations after him.
Mr.
The indiscriminate destruction of our forests, rampant over-fishing of our oceans, and the pollution of the air and soil take less time to occur than it will take to repair the damage. Without sound environmental stewardship we will leave behind a barren world for the common man of future centuries to inherit.
Our concern cannot be overstated since we, the small states, the most vulnerable members of this Assembly, are the ones who will bear the burden of the very real threats of climate change and environmental degradation.
This issue of environmental vulnerability further compounds the economic vulnerability with which we are faced as we enter this new century. Indeed, it is economic security that we need to ensure that we provide for the common man of generations to come. For without economic security, the stability and good governance to which we all aspire will be unattainable.
Mr. President
The viability of this organization will be called into question if a few members are strong while the majority are weak and marginalized. I say this because the majority of the countries in the Caribbean are small, structurally weak with vulnerable economies, which lack the financial, and human resources, and the institutional capacity necessary to compete in the global economy and to benefit from the trade opportunities, which may exist.
Dominica presently boasts the living reality of the world's. two oldest human beings both in Glanvillia, Dominica with Elizabeth Pampo Israel, 125 years old, and Rose 119 years old.
While we are doing our part to become incorporated in this new era of globalization, we have so far been unable to identify any tangible benefits from International Agreements such as those that govern the World Trade Organization. Instead we have witnessed an erosion of market access and export earnings from bananas.
We strongly urge organizations like the WTO to recognize the unique circumstances of small, structurally weak and vulnerable states and to make special provisions for these states in the formulation of their policies and regulations.
Mr. President
The difficulties that my country currently faces with respect to the banana industry, and agriculture in general, has left us no alternative but to intensify our efforts in diversifying the economy while we stand firm with our banana farmers and move into organic farming. The challenges of diversification come at a time when we are losing our valuable human resources to the more attractive wage markets of the north; when the unstoppable process of trade liberalization is forcing us out of traditional markets; and, in some countries, when extreme poverty demoralizes the majority of the labour force.
It is very obvious that we cannot afford to let the revolution in information technology pass us by. This would not only result in the marginalization of countries like my own, but would put into question the viability and stability of the countries themselves.
The information technology revolution has widened the gap between the haves and have nots, with the haves flourishing and the have nots floundering. Despite the opportunities that may exist, we should not forget that well over half of the world's population does not have access to basic telephone services.
It is the poor, particularly women and children, who are most affected by economic crises, epidemics and natural disasters. We have every reason to be troubled by this, as poverty impedes the contribution that vast numbers of our populations can make towards national development.
The Millennium Report calls for 1 billion people to be lifted out of poverty by the year 2015. This is laudable. However, many developing countries are unable to fund programs that eradicate poverty, due to the high burden of external debt which serves as an impediment to sustainable economic development.
Mr. President, we believe, that the United Nations can play a vital role in shaping and influencing a new regime of multilateral economic governance among the international lending agencies, urging them to institute policies for debt relief, so as to ensure that the fundamental, underlying causes of indebtedness are eliminated, thereby ensuring that the cycle of poverty is broken.
Less than two centuries ago slavery was defeated, apartheid and fascism were defeated in the last century. It is now our obligation to direct our energy to entomb racism in this century in all its manifestations.
One of the greatest men of the last century, Martin Luther King said 'the arc of the moral universe is long and wide but it always bends towards justice. Real peace will never come without justice. Dominica easily one of the most beautiful islands in the world is committed to pursue the course of peace; to play its part in seeking a cure for the dreaded AIDS epidemic; to strengthen Caribbean and Latin American cooperation, to contribute to the strengthening of the unity of all African states; and south-south cooperation. Locked in geographically between the French Departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean we have been obliged to seek a new relationship with France and the European Union to ensure our economic viability.
Dominica will always be committed within the family of the United Nations to support the course of peace keeping and conflict resolution in the world, sustainable development among the poor nations and the attainment of popular democracy to ensure popular participation at all levels of society and will respect the right of the Republic of China to adequate representation. And finally we salute the bold task being undertaken by our brother Kofi Annan and the United Nations in instituting this very timely debate among member states
THANK YOU.