SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES 'NEW ERA OF PARTNERSHIP' BETWEEN UNITED NATIONS AND CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

27 June 1997

Press Release
SG/SM/6272

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES 'NEW ERA OF PARTNERSHIP' BETWEEN UNITED NATIONS AND CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

19970627 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY In Statement to Eighteenth Meeting Of Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Jamaica

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Eighteenth Meeting of the Conference of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government, to be delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast in Jamaica on 30 June:

I should like to express regret at my inability to attend this important meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government. However, I would like to express my hope to take part in your twenty-fifth anniversary summit next year.

Only a month ago, I had the great privilege of opening in New York the First General Meeting between the representatives of the Caribbean Community and its associate institutions, and of the United Nations system.

That meeting, and the cooperation agreement that I had the pleasure to sign with your Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, was the culmination of our joint efforts to foster development and promote economic progress in the Caribbean Community.

The meeting showed that the United Nations and CARICOM share not only expertise and resources relating to the Caribbean, but a common vision for how that expertise should be applied.

I was particularly gratified to note the constructive and creative atmosphere of the meeting, and the great attention paid to specific projects and particular resources. It reflected the recognition on the part of CARICOM and the United Nations that ultimately we will be judged not by what we say, but by what we do.

At this time of important change and genuine opportunity, the United Nations is committed to playing our role in the partnership that must define

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development efforts, here as everywhere. We recognize that only through partnerships with regional organizations, the private sector and civil society can we achieve the high aims to which our Charter has committed us.

I pledge the partnership of the United Nations to your valiant efforts to combat the problems that confront your nations, from poverty to the scourge of drugs. And on one of the most serious long-term threats facing the Caribbean climate change and rising sea levels, I can report to you that last week's special session of the General Assembly dedicated to the environment was indeed a landmark.

It was evident that the world leaders gathered at the United Nations were committed to action and resolved to live up to the commitments of Rio, and then to do even more. Environmental consciousness is here to stay, and you will, I believe, be among the important beneficiaries of this global awareness.

The United Nations will remain the forum for your concerns in all your endeavours, and as we seek to reform the Organization, so too do we seek to be more responsive, more adaptive to your needs.

I am confident that the signing of the cooperation agreement between our two organizations will usher in a new era of partnership, where your goals are our goals and your development is the mark of our success.

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