UN General Assembly
1998

to result in concrete and practical outcomes, and to foster the requisite political commitment to the process. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a small but beautiful plural country, striving to maintain its agricultural, tourism and other service industries in this era of globalization. We, like so many developing countries today, suffer from the problems related to unemployment. We will continue to identify new and non-traditional areas, such as informatics and financial services, in order to create opportunities for our people, particularly our youth. We must express concern about Draconian immigration laws and regulations being adopted by an increasing number of countries. As a region where emigration has been of historic importance, the Caribbean could be severely affected by these restrictions. These stringent immigration policies have led to massive and summary deportations of immigrants from our region and other developing countries. Some people face dehumanizing abuse and death as they try to escape from poverty by seeking refuge in more developed countries. I need not emphasize how serious a threat these actions