UN General Assembly
2009

I extend our gratitude to the Secretary-General for continuing to spearhead the work of the United Nations at a time when our membership is beset by historic challenges. I am told that it is only what one says from the rostrum that is reflected in the record of the meeting. I hope that perhaps in the future, we can change the system. If we do so, we may be able to say more without spending a lot of time at the rostrum. So I shall circulate the full text of my speech and focus on only two areas that I think are important at this point in time. The first has to do with the financial crisis and its impact on the Caribbean, and the second concerns the climate change crisis. In the case of the prevailing financial crisis, the small, vulnerable economies of the Caribbean have had to bear the brunt of global recession. That has manifested itself both through depressed prices for primary exported commodities, such as bauxite, and through depressed demand for services, such as