UN General Assembly
1999

Policy, must take the lead role in the revision of the criteria for concessional assistance to include vulnerabilities and qualitative data including openness of the economy and economic shocks. The sustainable development of small developing countries will remain a dream unless these fundamental structural and systemic biases are addressed. Saint Lucia is particularly concerned about the exclusion of transnational corporations from the rules of engagement the World Trade Organization (WTO) sets for trade, since a large percentage of the financing for our development comes from trade in one commodity. Saint Lucia will continue to call for an integrated approach to the consideration of trade and finance in the context of the upcoming conference on financing for development and for the participation of all actors, including the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO, under the leadership of the United Nations. The dispute over the arrangements for the marketing of bananas has been particularly distasteful. People in member countries of the European Union are being punished through sanctions by the United States for the support of their Governments for the banana marketing