Posted September 2nd 2002

I am extremely pleased that this Summit is being held in Africa. Now that the New Partnership for Africa's Development has been created there is new hope for the African renaissance of which you, Mr. President, and other leaders of the continent have dreamed.

As the current Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), I would wish to express our region's full support for this new programme.

I must confess that I bring to this forum no new initiatives or proposals since I believe that these already abound and that we need only to commit ourselves to fulfil agreements already reached.

There are now continuous calls for partnership, and this seems to be the buzzword of this Summit, to promote the cause of sustainable development. And indeed genuine partnership can do much to achieve the goals, which we set ourselves in Rio and now seek to advance in Johannesburg. However, Mr. President, for partnership to work it must be founded on trust.

From my conversations with many of my colleagues Heads of Government, it is clear that they feel that such trust does not exist. It is equally clear that this is due to the increasing prevalence of double standards in the conduct of international political and economic affairs. It cannot be that partnership and interdependence are concepts to be invoked by some countries only when they feel themselves victimised and in need of international support.

The type of partnership we seek between states must be based on the interest of all parties, mutual trust and respect. Private-public sector partnerships must be based on equity and transparency. This should not come with diplomatic pressures to unfairly change the incentives and legal regime laws of a country. Partnership with the multilateral financial institutions must be based on greater understanding of the country situation and less of a doctrinaire advocacy of policies and greater transparency in decision making.

Mr. President, we in the Caribbean are fully committed to equitable and sustainable global development with time-bound targets.

In Guyana, to demonstrate our conviction, through the Iwokrama Rainforest programme, we have set aside almost one million acres (250,000 hectares) of pristine rainforest for research into biodiversity and the sustainable management of forest resources. We have allocated another 250,000 acres of rainforest to Conservation International as a Conservation Concession to promote sustainable management of forestry resources. Together these two initiatives account for over 2% of our national territory. In addition, we have set aside large tracts of land for a National Protected Areas System. We have also enacted strong and strict legislation to protect our natural heritage from abuse and destruction.

All of this and more we have done despite the fact that we are a poor country with a low per capita income, unable to provide our citizens with sufficient access to potable water, adequate housing and other basic services. Even after receiving support from the HIPC Initiative we still use 40% of our revenue to service foreign debts.

In these circumstances, many have asked: why it is that Third World countries are so committed to protecting the environment when so many of our people suffer from poverty and die from preventable diseases?

It is indeed tempting to forget our international commitments and like so many others focus instead on narrow national interest without regard for sustainability.

This, however, we have refused to do because we believe that in pursuing the cause of mankind we can best guarantee the welfare of our own people.

It is grossly unfair though those small and poor countries should be made to bear disproportionate responsibility for safeguarding the planet when they are so burdened by debt and other economic and social difficulties.

The developed countries must shoulder a fair share of the burden. It is not enough to make pledges, announce initiatives and develop action plans. One must go further to ensure that the amounts promised are fully delivered and disbursed. Take for example the Cologne debt relief initiative which undoubtedly was born out of the good intentions of the leaders of several developed countries. Years later only six countries have benefited. This is because the initiative is held hostage by some international financial institutions which seem to be busy inventing reasons for delaying its implementation.

Mr. President, it would most irresponsible to separate poverty and poverty eradication efforts from our discussions of the environment. Accordingly, the declaration and action plan emanating from this Summit must reaffirm the nexus that exists between poverty and sustainable development. Ideally they should set targets and time frames for meeting the international development goals that were stated in both the Rio and UN Millennium Declarations. More over, we wish that this Summit would provide significant momentum for the full implementation of the Barbados Action Plan, which emerged from the 1994 conference on Small Islands, Developing and Low Lying Coastal States and is due to be reviewed in the next two years.

In conclusion, let me reiterate the point I made at the outset namely that progress in sustainable development cannot be achieved through mere declarations of intent. Progress will only come if there is an enlightened understanding of and serious commitment to partnership. (End)