BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Federation’s Political Leader, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, has called on the United Nations to established a fund that would assist Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as St. Kitts and Nevis and other countries in the region that are vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change.
Addressing the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly today (Sept. 24) in New York, Dr. Harris pointed out that due to the small physical size, open economies, dis-economies of scale and small population, a climatic event of a few hours could “wreak havoc on every single aspect of life on our islands”.
He told the delegates that a strategy to promote climate financing should be addressed.
“It means nothing to say that billions of dollars are available for climate financing if the mechanisms for accessing them are opaque, prohibitive and extremely difficult to penetrate. Again, I urge common sense cooperation and partnership,” Dr. Harris said.
The Federation’s Minister of Agriculture had last year indicated that steps must be taken to mitigate the impact of climate change on the islands, pointing to the erosion of beaches being caused by growing sea levels.
Dr. Harris is of the view that SIDS are being marginalized due to the global financial system, as the Caribbean region faces the falloff from the Correspondent Banking Relations.
He informed the Assembly that 16 banks across the region have already withdrawn their services, thus putting the “financial lifeline of these countries at great risk”.
“In our tourism-dependent economies, where remittances factor greatly in national development, such actions threaten to derail progress, undermine trade, direct foreign investment and repatriation of business profits.”
St. Kitts and Nevis, like many other countries, has been bracing for the possible fallout from international financial institutions withdrawing their Correspondent Banking Relations.
Over the past several months, all regional heads have been trying their best to stave off losing their Corresponding Banking relations. However, Belize has lost all its correspondent banks.
PM Harris and other Heads of Government discussed the matter at their Summit in Georgetown, Guyana back in July, but they did not come up with any plausible plan to deal with the issue.
Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine had stated that they would continue to lobby the United States Treasury to come up with a solution to the matter.
At the 71st Session, Dr. Harris urged the G7 and G20 countries re-evaluate their stance on the Caribbean region.
He wants them to re-evaluate “methodologies used to assess how and whether a country qualifies for concessional support or access to certain types of international funds. The arbitrary classification of certain small countries like St. Kitts and Nevis or Dominica, as middle income countries, can never make sense - when one of these countries could grow its economy one year by four to six percent and then watch nearly 100% of its GDP wiped out that very same year by a tropical storm with six hours of rainfall”.
He added, “Any new formula must include vulnerability and resilience indices.”
The General Assembly runs from September 20-26 at the UN Head Quarters in the United States.
