Millenium Development Goals for the Caribbean

	Caribbean countries say rich nations not living up to their promises

In 2000, Caribbean and other UN member countries set a 15-year target to realise the series of development goals for their countries. The target date was 2015.

At the United Nations, they presented their report cards.

While outlining their achievements towards meeting the UN's Millenium Development Goals, Caribbean countries say their efforts are not being met with the support promised by wealthy or developed countries.

Speaker after speaker - leader after Caribbean leader - took to the podium at the summit in New York to tell their fellow world leaders how well they are doing to meet the eight UN objectives to improve the quality of life of their citizens.

The challenges

This was St Lucia's Prime Minister Stephenson King: "The challenge to countries like St Lucia was to ensure that forward and upward movement to a level where poverty would be a thing of the past."

And the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bisessar while reporting that her country had achieved "middle income country status" reminded that they were "fully cognizant of the fact that we remain vulnerable to international, financial, food and energy crises, as well as natural disasters".

	Persad-Bissessar oultined middle income country needs

The new prime minister of the oil and natural gas-rish country noted that "these vulnerabilities are not unique to Trinidad and Tobago" but also affect the wider Caribbean and large parts of the Commonwealth.

But while they detailed their achievements and re-committed themselves, many Caribbean countries also lamented the difficulties they were facing.

The MDGs cover health, education, gender equality, the environment and crucially a so-called global partnership for development.

It's the latter where the challenges seem most pronounced - a point made by several Caribbean leaders.

Promises, promises

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines did not mince his words: "Somehow we are expected to soldier on with less assistance than promised," he said.

Dr Gonsalves spoke about having to do this "in an international environment that is hostile to development, while the creators of the crises and the deliverers of empty promises often look askance at our developmental needs".

Somehow we are expected to soldier on with less assistance than promised Dr Ralph Gonsalves, PM St Vincent and Grenadines

His Jamaican counterpart Bruce Golding was equally troubled by the demands on the poorer nations and the challenges they face.

"We well appreciate the constraints that face the developed countries as a result of the recession," he acknowledged.

But he urged them not to renege on their commitments to the poorer nations.

"If that (support) was needed when the commitments were made, it is needed even more now."

And Mr Golding's concerns were echoed by the St Kitts and Nevis leader, Denzil Douglas, who pointedly stated: "Our best efforts and best practices are often undermined by external forces."

	Douglas:Our best efforts are often undermined

Dr Douglas also called for a complete rethink of how global agencies assess the growth trends of developing countries.

According to him, "the unfair calculation of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita places St Kitts and Nevis in a higher bracket that reality justifiably supports."

He feels that the present methods give an incorrect impression that some of these countries are better off than they really are, placing them at a disadvantage when seeking "crucial concessional loans".

Reality check

The Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer, in giving his progress report on the MDGs sounded a cautionary note and called for serious soul searching by all the countries concerned.

"Ten years have gone by and what do we have to show as concrete results?" he wondered.

Mr Spencer's conclusion: "Something seems terribly amiss."

The 20 - 22 September summit ended with the developed countries, including Britain and the United States, calling for a recommitment to the MDG objectives.