Caribbean leaders call for united
front against COVID-19 pandemic
By Nelson A. King
Caribbean leaders have
called for a united front against
the coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic, stressing that their
small economies are largely
dependent on one or just a
few industries, according to the
United Nations.
In pre-recorded, virtual
addresses to the 75th United
Nations General Assembly
Debate, the leaders on Saturday
also called for strengthened
global cooperation and
financing mechanisms to overcome
the health crisis and
recover from its massive socioeconomic
fallout.
Speakers also highlighted
the importance of gender
equality, improving access to
technology and closing the digital
divide, addressing inequalities
within societies, strengthening
climate action, and, in
line with the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goas (SDGs),
ensuring no one is left behind,
according to the UN.
Nations have to re-imagine
the ways they cooperate as
Caribbean L 6 ife, Oct. 2-8, 2020
they respond to COVID-19, said
Andrew Holness, the prime
minister of Jamaica, the first of
the Caribbean leaders to speak,
adding that “persistent global
problems require consistent
cooperation to achieve strategic
global solutions.”
An excellent example of such
effective multilateral cooperation
is the UN COVID-19
Response and Recovery Fund,
he said.
The UN said the Fund supports
low- and middle-income
countries overcome the health
and development crisis caused
by the pandemic and support
those most vulnerable to economic
hardship and social disruption.
The inclusion of middleincome
countries “recognizes
the reality,” Holness said,
alluding to the development
challenges faced by this group
of countries.
Through ensuring middleincome
countries are able to
access support they need will
allow the entire international
community to reap benefits,
he said.
The Jamaican prime minister
also voiced concerns over
the socio-economic fallout
from the pandemic, in particular
on efforts to beat back noncommunicable
diseases, as well
as the disproportionate impact
on, and rise in, violence against
women and girls.
In the same breath, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines Prime
Minister, Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves
underscored that, in the
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Ralph
Gonsalves speaks during a news conference at the 29th
Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM heads of Government
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 28, 2018. REUTERS / Andres
Martinez Casares, File
increasingly interconnected
and hyper-globalized world,
“we protect ourselves when we
safeguard our neighbors.”
He said today’s urgent challenges
“cannot be solved by
building walls” or by retreating
into nationalistic isolationism,
accentuating that “we must
build bridges and stand shoulder
to shoulder as we lift each
other up from COVID-19.”
The Vincentian leader also
spoke of the unique challenges
facing small island developing
states (SIDS) – including his
own country.
He highlighted the need
for “predictable and reliable”
financing, such as through
concessional loans, development
assistance, and debt relief,
to help such nations safeguard
their development progress.
St. Lucia Prime Minister Allen
Chastanet. Facebook
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