UN General Assembly
1984

﻿Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to see you presiding over this, the thirty-ninth, session of the General Assembly with the skill, competence and assiduity we have come to associate with you. The deep pleasure it affords my delegation to see you seated there reminds me that the middle passage did not break the ties that join the peoples of the Caribbean to the peoples of Africa. Time has served to affirm and strengthen the links of ancestry and historical experience between the Caribbean and Africa. The Jamaican delegation is certain that your rich experience will serve us well as you carry out your important task. 3. I take this opportunity to convey our appreciation to Mr. Jorge Illueca, of Panama, who deserves our praise for the competent manner in which he carried out his duties as President during the past year. 4. It is also a pleasure to welcome Brunei Darussalam as the 159th Member of the United Nations.