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Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations

PRESS RELEASE Prime Minister Gonsalves Leads Vincentian Delegation in Busy and Productive Week at the United Nations Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves secured commitments to provide Vincentian students with laptop computers, as well as additional assistance for the Argyle International Airport project, during a typically active week for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the United Nations (UN).

While in New York, the Prime Minister addressed the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, and co-chaired an important debate on the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The Prime Minister and his delegation, which included Foreign Minister Sir Louis Straker and the staff of the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, also held discussions with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister José Sócrates of Portugal, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda of Tanzania, and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. The Vincentian delegation also met with President José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, and the foreign Ministers of Australia (Kevin Rudd), Finland (Alexander Stubb) South Africa (Maite Nkoana-Mashabane) Morocco (Taïeb Fassi-Fihri) and Serbia (Vuk Jeremić).

Additionally, the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines delegation participated in meetings of ALBA, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), CARICOM, the Commonwealth, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Rio Group. Also, Prime Minister Gonsalves attended meetings of the Clinton Global Initiative and held less formal discussions with world leaders at separate events hosted by US President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

Prime Minister Gonsalves and Mrs. Gonsalves also had a private dinner with Baroness Valerie Amos, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Baroness Amos, who was born in Guyana, was the frist black woman to be leader of the British House of Lords, and the first black woman to sit in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Mrs. Gonsalves also attended events hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama and Yoo Soon-taek, wife of UN Secretar Ban ki-moon.

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Laptops and Scholarships

Prime Minister Gonsalves secured commitments from the Portuguese Government to provide over 15,000 laptops to Vincentian students. The details of the laptop programme were discussed in a lengthy meeting between Prime Minister Gonsalves and Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates, Foreign Minister Luís Amado and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, João Gomes Cravinho.

Prime Minister Sócrates explained that the Government of Venezuela had placed a large order for the Portuguese laptops to benefit Venezuelan students. The Venezuelan order was so large, said Prime Minister Sócrates, that the laptop manufacturers have decided to set up a factory in Venezuela to assemble the computers, rather than ship them from Portugal. The laptops destined for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will come from the Venezuelan assembly plant.

Foreign Minister Amado stressed that, in addition to the laptops, it was essential to establish procedures and curricula to properly utilize the technology in the classroom. The Foreign Minister pledged the assistance of Portugal in helping to put the proper procedures in place.

The Vincentian delegation also held discussions regarding additional scholarships with four countries. In discussions with various island states, the Minister of Environment and Forests of India, Shri Jairam Ramesh, promised two scholarships to Vincentian students in environmental studies.

Prime Minister Gonsalves and Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda of Tanzania discussed the framework of a student exchange programme that would involve Tanzanian students receiving nursing, teaching and technical training in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, while Vincentian students would be offered scholarships to study at Tanzania’s renowned University of Dar es Salaam.

Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves also initiated scholarship discussions with the Director General of Morocco’s Agency for International Cooperation and German officials, including the Ambassador of Germany and the Vice President of Government Affairs of Siemens, the massive energy and engineering conglomorate. 

Support for the Argyle International Airport

Prime Minister Gonsalves continued his extraordinary efforts to expand and consolidate the “Coalition of the Willing” to cooperate on the Argyle International Airport project. Portugal reiterated its pledge to provide assistance on the Airport project, while President Ahmadinejad of Iran committed to providing additional assistance beyond the US$2 million already donated to the Airport project. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar was also keen to support the Airport project, and committed his Minister for International Cooperation to follow-up on ways in which the Qatari government could assist or invest in the project.

Additionally, the foreign ministers of Serbia and Morocco also made commitments to explore ways in which their governments could support the Argyle International Airport project.

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Tourism Investment

Prime Minister Gonsalves held extensive discussions with the Emir of Qatar on ways in which the Qatar Investment Authority – that government’s massive sovereign wealth fund – could invest in tourism in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Emir indicated his familiarity with the regional investment opportunities in the area of tourism, and committed to further discussions with the relevant authorities in Qatar. The Emir extended an invitation to Prime Minister Gonsalves to visit Qatar to discuss these opportunities. 

The MDGs and SIDS

Prime Minister Gonsalves’ UN activities were anchored by two major events: his address to the summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and his co-chairing of a special round table event entitled “Reducing vulnerabilities and strengthening resilience of small island developing states.” Prime Minister Gonsalves co-chaired the round table with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is currently Australia’s foreign Minister.

In his well-received September 22nd speech on the MDGs (attached), Prime Minister Gonsalves detailed some of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ developmental successes over the past decade. The Prime Minister cited statistics that showed a dramatic drop in extreme poverty, with indigence falling from 26% to 3%. That reduction was far greater, and far quicker, than the UNprescribed target of a 50% reduction in extreme poverty by 2015. Prime Minister Gonsalves also cited his government’s success in broadening acess to secondary and early childhood education. Progress in the areas of health services, the reduction of infant mortality, the stabilisation of HIV infection rates, and the increase in pipe-borne water were all highlighted.

Prime Minister Gonsalves went on to remind developed countries of their obligation to honour commitments and pledges to provide additional development assistance. The financial and economic crisis should not be an excuse to evade pledges to partner with the developing world.

On September 24, Prime Minister Gonsalves was invited by the UN to co-chair a round table on “Reducing vulnerabilities and strengthening resilience of small island developing states.” The round table was a major element of the UN’s “High-level Review Meeting on the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.” The invitation to co-chair a prestigious round table is the second such request made by the UN to Prime Minister Gonsalves. In 2008, he was asked to co-chair a round table on the development needs of Africa.

Prime Minister Gonsalves shared chairmanship of the round table discussion with Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia. Rudd, who is currently Foreign Minister of Australia, held discussions with Prime Minister Gonsalves in the margins of the round table event.

In brief prepared remarks at the beginning of the round table (attached), the Prime Minister sketched the environmental, economic and social vulnerabilities of small island developing states. He stressed that SIDS were an effective “barometer” of the environmental and fiscal health of the globe, and called for greater attention to be paid to addressing their vulnerabilities.

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A Call for Mercy

In a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Prime Minister Gonsalves made a direct plea on behalf of Sakineh Mohammad Ashtiani, the Iranian woman currently facing a possible sentence of death by stoning. Prime Minister Gonsalves reminded President Ahmadinejad of an earlier letter written by the Vincentian leader on the subject, and repeated his call for Ahmadinejad to exercise his prerogative of mercy. Prime Minister Gonsalves explained that he was not challenging the Iranian morality, system of justice or jurisprudence.

Instead, he reminded the Iranian President that all systems of justice make provisions for mercy and clemency to be granted. Prime Minister Gonsalves indicated that the case of Ashtiani may be appropriate for such an exercise of mercy.

President Ahmadinejad thanked Prime Minister Gonsalves for his concern, but indicated that the case had not yet run its course through the Iranian judicial system, making mercy a premature consideration. Also, he reminded Prime Minister Gonsalves that the woman was not simply charged with adultery – as the western press alleged – but also the murder of her husband.

Ahmadinejad also cited the case of American woman Teresa Lewis, a mentally challenged woman who cheated on her husband and participated in his murder. Lewis was executed in Virginia on September 23. Ahmadinejad drew parallels between the American and Iranian cases, and questioned the relative lack of outrage on behalf of the western media regarding Ms. Lewis. 

Stronger Ties with Africa

Prime Minister Gonsalves has traditionally taken advantage of his Spetember visits to the United Nations to strengthen ties with African leaders. Recent trips to the UN have seen Prime Minister Gonsalves holding discussions with countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Uganda.

2010 was no exception. Prime Minister Gonsalves held a meeting with Tanazian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, and discussed ways in which Africa and the Caribbean can deepen ties. Prime Minister Gonsalves, who has addressed the two most recent summits of the African Union, discussed his idea of an “A-B-C Commission” (Africa-Brazil-Caribbean) with Prime Minister Pinda. In addition to student exchanges (discussed above), the two Prime Ministers explored possibilities for greater people-to-people links and cooperation between Tanzania and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Gonsalves also met briefly with President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. 

CARICOM Matters

The Vincentian Delegation was also actively engaged in CARICOM issues. Prime Minister Gonsalves and Foreign Minister Straker attended a CARICOM meeting on governance matters, which included discussions on new structures to improve the implementation of decisions taken in the integration movement.

Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves and Deputy Permanent Representative Nedra Miguel also attended a meeting of CARICOM’s Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) to discuss issues of common interest that were likely to arise at the United Nations. 

Diaspora Engagement

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The Prime Minister also held a packed Town Hall meeting with the Vincentian Diaspora and attended a Gospel Concert hosted by the Caribbean American Renal Failure Association.

(These events were covered in an earlier Press Release). ď Ž

UN Engagement ongoing

Although the Prime Minister has returned to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Foreign Minister has travelled on to Brussels on government business, Vincentian engagement at this session of the General Assembly is ongoing. The staff of the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations will attend meetings of the Commonwealth and NAM this week. Additionally, on Wednesday 27th, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves will address the General Debate of the UN’s 65th Session.

The entire Vincentian delegation for the week of activities was: Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Foreign Minister Sir Louis Straker, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, Ambassador La Celia Prince, Deputy Permanent Representative Nedra Miguel, Deputy Counsul General Cyrill Thomas, Nathanial Alexander and Ronette Jordan, a Projects Officer from the Central Planning Division.

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