 I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Philip Joseph Pierre, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy of St. Lucia. I invite him to address the Assembly. Mr President, distinguished Heads of State and Government, other distinguished Heads of Delegates, cherished citizens of our distressed planet, I bring you greetings from St. Lucia. Let me join in the congratulations to you, Mr President, on your election to lead this august body and assure you of St. Lucia's support as you preside over our deliberations at one of the most critical moments in the history of our organization. Mr President, I address this distinguished body with the democratic permission of the people of St. Lucia, a small but proud state in eastern Caribbean. We insist, Mr President, that our history and present circumstances place us upon us the responsibility of serving as voices of redemption and hope at times of crisis. Mr President, I agree with the theme under which this 77th session of the Gerry Assembly is being conducted, a watershed moment, transformative solutions to interlocking challenges. Given the morbid developments in the contemporary global political environment, it is responsible to conclude that we deviated to our detriment from the course that the framers of the UN Charter had set for us. It is for this reason that we have arrived at a watershed moment in our history. Mr President, we have arrived at this watershed moment in history because we, the members of United Nations, have not had head to the rules and principles of the organization that we created 76 years ago. As a multilateral answer to mankind's propensity to use arms against his fellow man, instead of joining with him to turn them into tools for peace and development. We have arrived at this watershed moment because we have failed to adhere to the arrangements we have negotiated multilaterally to solve the problems that have confronted us, problems invariably of our own making. We have come to this watershed moment because small developing countries continue to suffer from inequitable world order in which the rich and powerful do not right the wrongs they commit against the weak. Mr President, despite our small size, despite our deliberate desire to be a source of peace and friendship to all, despite our democratic traditions, and despite our earnest efforts to make the development of our people our primary objective, we find ourselves in a world stacked against us and frustrating our development at every turn. Sadly, Mr President, a survey of the global political economy of the last four decades reads like a cascading series of crises and a frustrating tale of arrested development and dashed hopes for the people of the Caribbean. In every decade since 1980, we have faced the ill wills of a harsh and global environment to which we are forced to change course without reward and if looking to show for our efforts. In the 1990s, it was the end of the United Kingdom, its European single economy, which removed any lingering protections from which it benefited and which placed us at greater exposure to a world of liberalized trade with no consideration for specific historical circumstances. Then came the decade of the 2000s in which the WTO was formalized and in which came an even harsher reality of trade liberalization that has not lived up to its promise of cheaper goods and services for all. Instead, we have mostly witnessed declines in the demand for our primary commodities like bananas, sugar and rum. If anything, the new rules of trade have taught us harsh lessons on how global arrangements are designed to punish us when we are accused of wrong, but fail to reward and protect us when we are wronged. The experience of Antigua and Barbuda is instructive in this regard. In the year 2001, weakness of terrorist attack on the United States of America which brought, if with another round of negative economic circumstances, 9-11 was followed by the global financial crisis of 2008, a crisis not of our own making, but one for which we in the Caribbean were among the hardest hits. Our tourism industry suffered tremendously as the financial losses in the main source markets resulted in the reduction of tourism traffic to our countries. This tale of a strated development continued in 2016 of Brexit and was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought a fit on seeing hags and uncertainty in the price of oil and has wiped out all our hopes for a smooth recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 20 years after the first conference on financing for development in 2002, the mechanisms and global frameworks we established for the United Nations' financing for development process tell a damning story of gaps and shortfalls, commitments not kept, systematic barriers reinforced, and negative challenges. And all our partners lived up to their commitments, our current circumstances of economic distress may not have been as dire. Our diversification into financial services is also threatened by an uneven regime of negative regulations. And overarching all of this are the continued challenges of climate change with its fierce occurrences of floods, droughts, and hurricanes adding yet more uncertainty to our economic projections and aspirations. Mr. President, it is no longer breaking news or a matter of debates that climate change nor the biggest crisis facing mankind today, but the solutions to the universal climate change emergency are not mis-defined. From 2015 Paris Agreement, where we agreed that limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees centigrade would help us stay alive, to COP26 in Glasgow, we have followed the science, negotiated compromise, and agreed upon the solutions. The problem is these arrangements have been broken or simply ignored. Those who are the biggest sinners of the climate crisis and who are supposed to take the corresponding greatest action have not followed through on their commitments. The quantum of financing for climate justice needed for developing countries and agreed upon by developed countries has not materialized. Other issues of the Paris Rulebook are still to be implemented. The multilateral development financial institutions have yet to change their systems to make it easier for developing countries to access the financing required to adapt to climate change and build climate resilient countries and economies. Mr. President, developing countries already saddled with debt must be given the means to be able to deal with climate change. We must act together to save our people and our planet. It is regrettable therefore that recent political differences between two of the biggest polluting countries have led to a halting of cooperation between them on climate issues. The future of our planet must never be held hostage to the politics of super-power rivalry. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the government and people of Beneda on the appointment of its former environmental minister, Simon Steele, as Executive Secretary of the UN Frame Convention on Climate Change. The appointment of someone from a small island state is hopefully a signal that the world is listening to the pleas of the most vulnerable for positive and urgent action in this climate crisis. We urge the developed world to act upon the solutions to climate change that they have agreed upon. For decades, Mr. President, we have called on global financial institutions to carve out a special regime that takes into account our smallness and vulnerabilities to climate change. This is not an unreasonable demand. We have insisted that the many of the challenges that we face have come from the external environment and are not of our own making. Given our small size and minuscule levels of industrial pollution, we are among the least responsible for global warming. But given our small size, our vulnerable economies, we are among the most defenseless to the ravages of climate change. A single hurricane which destroys our entire agricultural crop or destroys our tourism plant and infrastructure can set us back for decades. We are simply asking that these vulnerabilities be considered when our financial obligations for development assistance are being negotiated. This results in the mutual beneficial solution of ensuring that the views of the global economy keep on turning while at the same time allowing us the breathing space to participate meaningfully with a renewed sense of faith in legitimacy of the global financial system and its institutions. For three decades, from the adoption of Agenda 21, through the several General Assembly resolutions and to the Samoa pathway, they have been caused for the adoption of a multi-dimensional vulnerability index, MVI, for seeds. The MVI will replace the unreliable and unfair gross national income index that precludes seeds from accessing badly needed low-cost and concessional financing for their development. The work on the MVI by the UN and other institutions like the Caribbean Development Bank must now be accelerated and finalized. A reform of the regime can no longer be ideological or political. We need to include the vulnerabilities of small states like Senutia when calculating the value of their economies. This is a matter of survival for our people. Mr. President, we are disappointed that in another area of vital importance to small island development states, ocean governance, we are failed to adopt the first ever multilateral maritime biodiversity treaty stalled in August because the developed countries of the North were once again unwilling to accommodate the needs of the developing world of the South. Protecting the oceans is an imperative. An agreement on the sharing and sustainable use of the marine resources that are beyond national jurisdiction is essential. Bear in mind that these areas do not belong to one country, but are the heritage of all mankind. Senutia therefore calls for the urgent resumption of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Treaty so that its texts can be finalized. Taking into account the special circumstances of small island developing states, Article 2 and 23 of the UN Charter are unambiguous in binding member states to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any states and to negotiate and settle all international disputes by peaceful means. In the declaration of the declaration of the 75th anniversary of the UN, heads of state and government reaffirmed these principles when they said we'll promote peace and prevent conflict, we'll abide by international law and ensure justice. Mr. President, the Wai Nui Queen not only unleashed death and a renders destruction, but has plunged the world into an economic crisis of runway inflation, food shortages and energy supplies and worsened a global supply chain prices that had been triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The world could have been sped this humanitarian and economic agony if once again countries and their leaders had respected and adhered to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. We therefore call upon all parties involved to immediately end the conflict in Ukraine, but on the taking immediate negotiations to permanently settle all disputes in accordance with the principles of the United Nations. The billions and billions of dollars being spent in Ukraine in wanting destruction and war could have transformed for the better the economies, the livelihoods and the lives of millions and millions of people in developing countries of the world. If spent on poverty reduction and economic transformation. It is from this perspective, Mr. President, that Senusha also laments the recent escalation of major tensions in the Taiwan streets that threaten regional, international peace and security. And so Senusha calls upon those responsible to observe the UN rules on peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of all countries. The people of Taiwan have freely determined their political status and ought to be allowed to continue their chosen path to economic, social and cultural development and to confirm their right to self-determination. Senusha calls for the meaningful participation of Taiwan in the organs and agencies of the United Nations. In the interest of peace and stability in the contemporary global political environment, we continue to call for the reduction of tension and the organization of relations with our regional neighbors of Venezuela and Cuba. And in this regard, Mr. President, in keeping the Charter of the United Nations on the people's right to self-determination political independence, we once again call for the immediate removal of the inhumane economic embargo against Cuba. Given the devastating impacts of the sanctions on the Venezuelan people coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and compounded by the expanding crisis of the whole economy arising out of the war in hurricane, let us also use this moment as a watershed for lifting the painful sanctions against the people of Venezuela. Let us work together, opening up a new period of prosperity for Latin America and the Caribbean. In that vein, Senusha wishes to raise his grave concern over the situation in Haiti. Over the situation in Haiti, we'll continue to engage in the rest of the caricum family and the global community to facilitate a process towards the normalization and ultimately the holding of free and fair and credible elections in Haiti. While Senusha and the rest of the Caribbean are not manufacturers of conventional weapons, our countries have been plagued by a population of illegal small arms and light weapons resulting in a surge in criminal activity and gun violence. Senusha has always been a strong advocate for the national frameworks such as the United Nations program of action to prevent combat in and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects and the arms trade treaty which are two examples of multilateral instruments aimed at mobilizing international cooperation to curb the illicit trade in conventional arms and ammunition. Senusha calls on all the major manufacturers, exporters and importers of conventional weapons in our hemisphere to live up to their commitments under these instruments to lend the necessary expertise and technical assistance and cooperate in good faith to stem the tide of unregulated conventional arms and ammunition. Mr President, in his reports our common agenda on the future of global cooperation, the UN Secretary-General has proposed several significant initiatives with regard to the youth of the world. The report recommended more meaningful and effective engagement with the youth including better political representations, transforming education, skills training and lifelong learning and it proposed the establishment of a United Nations youth office and the appointment of a special envoy for future generations. Senusha welcomes these recommendations and is encouraged by the adoption of the resolution to establish a youth office as they are in keeping with our key priorities of my administration which I highlighted in my inaugural address to this general assembly, the creation of a youth economy. I said then that this novel youth economy which will be formalized in a new government department under the purview of the prime minister will be a catalyst for propelling our young people to turn their talents skills and hobbies into economic enterprises for their own empowerment. I'm therefore pleased to announce that legislation establishing our youth economy agency has been passed and will be formally launched this year. As we call upon member states to support the UN youth office and Secretary-General and the Secretary-General's other proposals on the youth, we once again invite the international community to discuss and engage Senusha on the mutually beneficial relationships and projects to promote the youth economy. In the face of today's drastic interconnected crises let us all together harness the immense energy, enthusiasm and creativity of our young people. Let us capitalize on their resourcefulness. Let us see them as assets and not as problems to be solved. Let us consider the aspirations for the future is theirs not ours. Mr President, in this watershed moment as we have described it of interlocking challenges we must all accept the truth that it is the ordinary people of this world who matter, the youth in particular. It's about the people whom we serve who made us their leaders. It is they the people who must come first in all that we do. And so Mr President we have gathered in this semi-seventh session under the theme of a watershed moment transformative solutions to interlocking challenges. A lofty and noble theme indeed. Pregnative hope and tiring expectations. If we truly think of the people of this world, if we truly dedicate ourselves to serving them, then our words, our decisions, our actions will deliver better healthcare, decent employment and decent housing. As world leaders, let us practice servant leadership by faithfully adhering to and fulfilling the obligations of the Charter of the United Nations, to which we all agreed to abide when we became its members. Let us truly be Nations United. Let us transform our attitudes and approach to the less privileged. The more powerful among us must own international obligations and responsibilities. Despite our small size Mr President, St. Lucia stands here with the self-confidence of a people, assured that our history and our own struggles for freedom have earned us the right to be a voice for all the developing and oppressed peoples of the world, and we are confident that we have something to share with the world at this time of crisis. I thank you. On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy of St Lucia for the statement just made, and I request protocol to escort his Excellency. The Assembly will hear an address by his Excellency Alexander de Kru, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium. I request protocol to escort his Excellency.