A Call for Greater Sympathy for Small Island Developing States as UN Millennium Summit Ends

Contact: John Emmanuel

Friday, September 08, 2000 - St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony has called upon the major powers of the United Nations, to display greater sympathy to the plight of Small Island Developing States and other under privileged countries of the world.

Speaking at the Millennium Summit at the United Nations on Thursday, September 7, 2000 Dr. Anthony denounced the actions of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for its attempts at hindering the fledgling financial services sector of regional states.

Prime Minister Anthony told over one hundred and fifty world leaders attending the Summit that the aspect of globalisation had worked to the benefit of the developed world but had continued to adversely affect developing countries.

According to Dr. Anthony, "In this age we are exalted to be competitive, yet whenever we manage to succeed in this endeavour, the developed world shouts foul and accuses us of being harmful and discriminatory. Therefore I say that those prophets of the new age of globalisation and trade liberation who boast of hope in that new age, do so only because they are the ones who enjoy the benefits. But for us, the small island states like St. Lucia, what we hear is the deafening silence of a new order that ignores our special needs. What we experience is the insensitivity and disinterest of the mighty as they manipulate the system for the selfish ends."

Dr. Anthony says despite the technology wizardry that currently exists the digital divide between the haves and the have-not’s continues to widen. Prime Minister Anthony is heading St. Lucia’s delegation to the Millennium Summit that comes to an end in at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Friday.

The three-day summit is examining several issues confronting U.N. member countries but will hold specific interests to St. Lucia and other Small Island Developing States, as it relates to the issue of multilateral trade.

According to Anthony Darius of the International Organizations Desk of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, "What we have been advocating for is a trading system that is fair and of course takes into consideration the special needs of small and vulnerable states within the system. This comes against the backdrop of the WTO ruling as far as the preferential treatment that St. Lucia and ACP bananas enjoys on the European Market. There is also the issue of the negative reporting by the OECD countries as far as our fledging financial sector services is concerned. We have been trying to reposition our economies so that the financial services sector plays a greater role. It’s one of the areas where we see St. Lucia and the rest of the island of the Caribbean as having a comparative advantage."

St. Lucia’s delegation includes Cabinet Secretary Anthony Severin and Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Earl Huntley.

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