Ambassador Gonsalves praised for central role at UN Conference

The international status and recognition of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines reached new heights this week as the world community lavished extensive praise on the country and its Permanent Representative, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, for the central role played in the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.{{more}}

Ambassador Gonsalves served in the prestigious role as co-facilitator of the Conference, along with the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands, Frank Majoor. As co-facilitator, Ambassador Gonsalves led often-contentious negotiations among the nations of the world, and drafted an outcome document that will serve as a blueprint for the global efforts to address the financial and economic crisis. The document, and the efforts of the co-facilitators, received numerous accolades from world leaders, ministers of government and ambassadors during the course of the Conference.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon began the Conference with words of praise for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and its Ambassador. “I want to thank, in particular, two co-facilitators of this important meeting — Ambassador Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Ambassador Majoor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” he said. “Thank you for your hard work and commitment.”

Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States, who is also a member of Cabinet of the United States Government, stated that “hard work and countless hours gone into preparing this Conference. Let me join other delegations in offering sincere thanks to the co-facilitators — the Permanent Representatives of the Netherlands and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for their tireless management of this process.”

Mrs. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, also offered praise, stating, “”I would first of all like to thank you, Mr. President, for the marvelous task that the two facilitators — the Dutch Ambassador and the Ambassador from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Mr. Gonsalves have done — they have done a marvelous job and thank you very much.”

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Ambassador Martin Palou_, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, expressed “the European Union’s gratitude to the co-facilitators, Ambassador Gonsalves and Ambassador Majoor, who have made this possible. Let us all pay tribute to their dedication, their sense of duty, their ability to capture and aggregate the different views of member states, and ultimately their extraordinary capacity to lead the membership to a most successful conclusion.”

Not to be left out, members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also heaped praise on the role played by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Ambassador Gonsalves. Ambassador Raymond Wolfe of Jamaica, who spoke on behalf of CARICOM when the document was adopted, stated: “you have shown, Ambassador, that small size is no constraint to quality in terms of the voice and representation of our region overseas . . . and, on behalf of CARICOM, we are indeed proud of you.”

Belizian Prime Minister Dean Barrow viewed the performance of Ambassador Gonsalves as an appropriate response to those who had originally questioned his appointment. Speaking at a United Nations Press Conference, he expressed “pride” at the work done by the Ambassador. “I remember when I read that Ambassador Gonsalves was being appointed perm rep to the UN, there were some people who said that because his father was Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that was ‘not entirely cricket,’” he said. “Well, you can’t ask for a better example of merit having shone through, and it seems to me that it makes clear that really we can’t allow ourselves in the Caribbean to be detained by overly nice, overly finicky, considerations when we have people who possess the kind of talent that Ambassador Gonsalves does, but who are perhaps in some relationship to prime ministers or to people in government.”

Other countries offering praise and gratitude to the role played by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines included Algeria, Barbados, Cameroon, Ghana, Japan, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, also took many opportunities to offer his thanks for the work of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Ambassador Gonsalves.