St. Lucia Focus' on Multilateral Trade as Millennium Summit Opens at U.N.

Contact: John Emmanuel

Tuesday, September 05, 2000 - Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony is heading St. Lucia’s delegation to the Millennium Summit that opens at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, September 6, 2000.

The three-day Summit that groups over one hundred and sixty UN member countries, will examine several issues confronting member states, but will hold specific interest 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 within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, "What we have been advocating for, is a trading system that is fair and 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 fledgling financial sector services is concerned."

Darius says, "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 islands of the Caribbean as having a comparative advantage."

Among Prime Minister Anthony’s delegation to the September 6-8 Summit is Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Honourable George Odlum, Cabinet Secretary Anthony Severin, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Earl Huntley.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Search for 2000 Press Releases ] [Site Help]

© 2001 Government Information Service. All rights reserved.

Read our privacy guidelines.