UN General Assembly
2004

are even more exacerbating for small island developing States. Their small markets and the limited market access for their products constrain them greatly in their efforts to integrate smoothly into the global economy. They also suffer from natural vulnerabilities to phenomena such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis. The devastation caused by the recent series of hurricanes in the Caribbean islands demonstrates the extent of our vulnerability. It is true that those vulnerabilities have been recognized in a variety of international forums, but such recognition has yet to crystallize in concrete actions in favour of small island developing States. The precarious situation of our States is of direct concern to the international community as a whole. May we then resolve to take bold initiatives to implement meaningfully the Barbados Programme and to respond to related emerging issues so that small island developing States can build resilience and capacity and be integrated fully into the global economy? Similarly, in the multilateral trading system, we expect the emergence of an environment conducive to enabling our States to improve their