Solutions needed for small nations
– Guyana tells OAS General Assembly
Guyana has called upon the Organization of the American States (OAS) to help find solutions to the impediments facing small developing nations.
Addressing the 50th OAS General Assembly earlier this week, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Hugh Todd, said countries in the hemisphere remain challenged by transnational organised crime, corruption, narco-trafficking, cyber-attacks, and terrorism and violence.
These, he said, impair their capacities to ensure the safety of their peoples.
“Guyana sees the OAS as strategically positioned in Washington, DC, right next to the world’s leading International Financial Institutions (IFI) and the Inter-American Development Bank, and we therefore urge the OAS not just to carry on with its relatively small development programmes and valuable scholarship opportunities, but also to do its utmost to address the problem that we face as small developing countries.”
Minister Todd said the OAS remains the principal forum for all dialogue within the hemisphere. The rules-based institute, he said, must pursue consensus-building, especially on issues that continue to confront nations, and its Charter must be applied equally to all of its members.
The Foreign Minister said Guyana supports the “From Vulnerability to Resilience” Framework Strategy Document and its accompanying action plan, a collaborative effort between the Secretary-General and the CARICOM Caucus of Ambassadors. The road map will see the Secretary-General playing the role of key interlocutor and advocate between Guyana, IFIs in Washington DC, and other development partners.
Minister Todd also urged member states, particularly those with greater resources, to recognise needs and support more humane and realistic plans for the development of small nations.
Guyana, meanwhile, has refocused its priorities to deal with the current health and economic crises affecting its citizens.
“If the popular phrase, ‘we’re all in this together’ is to have any real meaning, then we must all come together, large and small, industrialised or developing economies, to pursue a collective solution to one of the greatest existential threats of the 21st century,” Minister Todd relayed.
Guyana is among 35 independent states that form the OAS.