Extracts from the statement by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to the General Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York last Saturday.
We in Barbados have chosen to withstand the economic storms that assail us by relying on the good judgment of our people to come together in times of peril.
My Government has partnered with the business community and the trade union movement to ensure that both layoffs and wage demands are kept to an absolute minimum so that the gain and the pain are shared equitably.
We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us because it is our settled conviction that a nation is more than just an economy, it is also a society.
The cruel irony of the current downturn is that it might have been avoided if corporations had restrained their greed, and government oversight and regulation, at the international, regional and national levels had been more vigorous and more rigorous. . . .
Barbados believes that the path to prosperity lies in open economies, open societies and open governments, and is constantly positioning itself to compete as a fully compliant, transparent, rules-governed global entrepreneurial and financial centre.
Yet to our dismay we find that the rich and powerful keep changing the rules to their advantage and to our disadvantage. It is a violation both of fair play and of common sense to move the goal posts while the game is in progress. Let it be clearly understood that on this issue it is not charity we seek; it is justice we demand. . . .
Mr President, without peace and security it is difficult to create and maintain the social conditions that constitute an indispensable prerequisite for economic progress and prosperity. . . .
Mr President, the Government and people of Barbados fully embrace Cuba as an important partner in the Caribbean region and, ever since 1972, committed themselves to a policy of constructive engagement with its government and people. Barbados respects the sovereign rights of Cuba and supports, unequivocally, its full integration into our hemisphere.
Barbados does not believe that actions such as the decades-long economic embargo aimed at isolating Cuba, or any other measures that create greater hardship for the Cuban people, will facilitate the full integration which we consider to be both desirable and necessary.
My delegation thinks, therefore, that the economic embargo against Cuba has long outlived its usefulness and should be lifted. Barbados remains committed also to supporting the development and the advancement of the people of Haiti. For my delegation, the reconstruction of Haiti, including the rebuilding of its democratic institutions, continues to be a high priority.
We fully support the call made in July by the Heads of State and Governments of the Caribbean Community for the international community to fulfil their pledges to finance the reconstruction of Haiti following the devastation of the earthquake in January 2010.
As member states, we must re-commit ourselves, therefore, to realizing the ideals of this organization, bearing in mind that commitment to the pragmatic and the possible must sometimes become our stepping stones to the realization of ideals.
That approach, Barbados is convinced, is an infallible way of giving effect to the determination of the founders of the United Nations “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”
