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unfortunately the Caribbean today also itself at the front line of too many challenges that's why I ask all the time who sees us and who hears us we continue to be confronted by blacklisting which pale into insignificance when compared to climate destroy our financial sector the illicit flow of weapons such that the ease with which people can go into public spaces and shoot and kill others is now regarded as just another item on the news because we promote profit in the manufacturer and trade of guns and weapons of non-communicable diseases that strike down our people in the most Insidious of ways because we allow diets that promote the prosperity corporations to become the norm of the day with the food that we eat and the live and in the case within our own Community Bell and Guyana continue to face challenges to their territorial Integrity I support people feel that because we have talked so long about Bell and Guyana and Cuba that we can continue to talk about climate change and these other things and that it is okay for it to be another tick on a UN speech these are all threats to our stability to the people's stability in lands but you know since last we met there are other instances and not of our making that may yet destabilize us and we say it over and listening and you know we don't come with Tales of War only the Caribbean has Excellence it really has Noble laurates Sportsmen who have excelled and are the best in the world of their type artists the best in the world of their type leaders who have inspired previous Generations we don't come here as a handouts we don't want and will not be mendicant what we want no what we need is fiscal and policy space fiscal and policy space to achieve to be nimble to adapt and to innovate in ways that allow us to be true and faithful to the task of bringing prosperity to our people or is in the theme of this General Assembly to eradicate poverty to educate our people to include all such that there's not inside we want an international order equally that recognizes that there must must be different policies prescriptions to suit the circumstances that we all have and we can still be friends small and large North and Muslim all different races all genders an equitable and just International order that is truly built on the principles of justice and fairness for all and not just for some a United Nations that recognizes that as 74 years old we must be able to have difficult conversations as mature people them many in the developing world were persuaded or required to abandon policies that were designed for majority of our population to be transformed and those those policies were fashioned to adopt a consensus that was settled in Washington DC and named thereafter and that ultimately regrettably was about the consolidation of wealth in the hands of a very few that's why we have seen the growing inequality that we have seen in the world over the last few decades that is why too many people over the world have become cynical about governments and about the benefits that they can bring to them the fueling of the greed of a few threatens to undermine what little Independence and we judge ourselves Independence is a recent phenomenon for us others who have taken 150 years to get where they have gotten are still stumbling and falling and you want to judge those who have had less than 50 or 60 years to operate in a world that has not been made in their image and that interests this is the Fate my friends of many and Mr President despite our small sizes the 14 countries of the Caribbean Community have been able to play leadership roles of International import I can't stand here today without talking about St Vincent and the Grenadines that has become the smallest nation of the world ever to be elected to the security Council to sit on it we addition and I want to speak to this because when CARICOM was confronted with the unfolding situation in Venezuela I accompanied the then chairman of kcom the Prime Minister of s kits and neevis as well as the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago to meet in this building with the UN Secretary General in January of this year and we delegations and some said we were wasting our time and some said the time for talk was already over and we said then as we say almost 9 months later the time for dialogue the time for talk my friends can never be over in a world we don't take sides but what we know is War over dialogue the people of Venezuela must be allowed to decide their own future in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter non-interference prohibition of the force respect for the rule of law human democracy it is regrettable that other organizations have not followed their Charters and that is what makes the actions of our Secretary General of the refusing to breach his own Charter and take actions even even though member states have hurled in to the recognition of those unelected our Caribbean Sea must remain a zone of peace and for that fight Mr President I speak fear because from Independence barbad Us's foreign policy has been premised on the simple principle of friends of all satellites of none bar therefore has always remained and will remain proud to have Cuba as a treasured friend Barbados establish relationships with the People's Republic of China when others to we may be small but we are principles our relationship is based with Cuba on a historical Foundation rooted in solidarity cooperation and complimentarity of a common Caribbean civilization and we say that the longstanding economic embargo on Cuba continues to be a cause of serious concern I reaffirm barbad this's strong opposition to this unilateral action and more so the recent activation of article three of the Helms Burton law imposes restrictions and further exacerbates the situation and I ask you here to what end to what end the continued attempt to stop the people of Cuba from living with unacceptable Mr President it is time that the global Community recognizes that small island developing states are truly equal Partners in the International Arena and that our special development needs must be taken into account in the multilateral Forum growth in the economies of the developed States we contend must not come at the existence of the very viability of small developing statements small children have a phrase for it they call that cowardice they call that bullying they out we ask for fairness equity and opportunity to take our legit legitimate place in the global community that is all that was the promise of our organization and I know that today I have a duty to acknowledge and commend the heroic efforts of our Secretary General Antonio gutiz who is swimming against the rising tide of anti- anti-globalism navigating the dangerous currents of dwindling Resort ources and resisting my friends the efforts to set a drift all of the excellent work done over the last seven and a half decades by leaders across the world and his predecessors to ensure development peace family as a small nation we are not only multilateralism we also understand that it is the one thing the one thing that protects our sovereignty and our ability to navigate in this world it is our buffer against the display of Might and tyranny we continue to view the United Nations as an important mechanism for achieving International Peace and security and sustainable development for all countries but in particular in particular for the most vulnerable
