UN General Assembly
2010

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis has looked forward to this sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly with much anticipation. We welcome the opportunity to share in the usual rich general debate, to strengthen existing relationships and to build new ones. This environment, we believe, facilitates the exchange of views on issues of common interest. We look forward, particularly, to the views on the work still ahead in tackling the insidious global challenges. The tasks I have in mind are: mitigating the negative impact of the ongoing economic crisis on our countries and peoples, and dealing with its many implications for vulnerable small economies like ours; tackling the prolonged tightening of credit markets; protecting the environment from degradation; promoting human security; and redressing the global epidemic of interpersonal violence. These are but a few of the problems with which Governments across the globe must grapple. And we must do this against a backdrop of uncertainty, while established centres of power are shifting. Governments must now reconcile the pursuit of statecraft and national interests with rapidly changing and less